The Board of Estimates agreed to pay $50,000 to a man injured after a collision with a city pickup truck and $60,000 to a Brooklyn resident whose confrontation with a Baltimore police officer resulted in a broken neck bone.

The settlements were made at the board’s Wednesday meeting to settle lawsuits by Joseph Robinson and Albert Smith.

Robinson injured his right ankle and back after he hit a Department of Public Works truck that had failed to yield the right-of-way.

“The liability of the city driver is clear,” the law department told the spending board, and the settlement covered Robinson’s medical expenses, including ankle surgery.

White Chewing Gum?

In the second case, Smith charged that Southern District Police Officer Paul E. Thompson placed him in a choke-hold near Patapsco Avenue and St. Margaret Street on October 21, 2014.

Officer Thompson said he “grabbed” Smith after he observed what he believed to be a drug buy between Smith and “an individual known to be a drug dealer.”

Thompson ordered Smith to spit out a white substance – Smith said it was chewing gum – and choked him before placing him under arrest.

Smith was later diagnosed with a traumatic fracture of his right hyoid bone and sprain of the anterior neck muscle.