David Hicks Hopes to get transitional housing with the $10,000 he received from lawsuit against the city From left, ACLU of Nevada staff attorney Lee Rowland, homeless man David Hicks, attorney E. Bill Bryson and ACLU of Nevada executive director Gary Peck attend a news conference Wednesday to announce a $45,000 settlement with the city of Las Vegas. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Three homeless men mistakenly arrested last year on charges of sleeping too close to a pile of feces were each handed a settlement check for $10,000 on Wednesday.

The men were contemplating how to spend the money.

"I'm not a drinker or a gambler," said Eastman Webber, 67. "Ideally I'd like to find an old gal who wants a roomie. I'm exploring my options."

The checks came shortly after the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and local attorney E. Brent Bryson announced a $45,000 settlement with the city of Las Vegas on behalf of Webber, David Hicks and Jerry Halfpap.

Bryson and the ACLU of Nevada filed a federal lawsuit last year against the city on behalf of the men, who were arrested for violating a Las Vegas ordinance provision that's no longer on the books.

The section of the ordinance made sleeping within 500 feet of a deposit of feces or urine illegal. The City Council passed the ordinance in August but then repealed the provision in September.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said at the time that the sleeping-near-feces provision got into the ordinance by mistake.

Still, city marshals arrested the three men on the charge on the afternoon of Nov. 26 at Frank Wright Park across from City Hall.

"They were arrested, taken off to jail, for quote, unquote, sleeping too close to poop," said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada. "Their rights were violated -- violated in a rather egregious fashion."

The lawsuit stated that only Webber was asleep at the time and that the three men were handcuffed and arrested "while dozens of onlookers observed the ordeal."

The men said marshals told them the deposit in question was a pile of feces on the front steps of the historic downtown post office that abuts the park.

"I didn't even know it (the feces) was there," Hicks said Wednesday. "I'm supposed to go around looking for it?"

Halfpap spent two nights in jail, while Hicks and Webber each spent a night in jail. Charges against the men were then dropped.

The city issued a statement in December stating that an internal investigation had been launched into why the arrests occurred.

The city attorney did not return a call seeking comment for this report.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he did not know the results of the investigation.

Goodman apologized to Hicks on behalf of the city after the homeless man spoke about his arrest at a Dec. 6 City Council meeting.

The mayor said Wednesday that he believed it was the city's responsibility to make sure its officers knew which laws had been passed.

"I think it's wrong that they weren't briefed on this," Goodman said. "I'm not pointing at any specific individual. But people who are expected to enforce laws are fully advised what they can or cannot do."

The lawsuit, filed in December in federal court, claimed that the city had violated the men's civil rights and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon them.

It also claimed the city was negligent, had falsely imprisoned the men and committed assault by touching them "without privilege or consent when they were arrested and handcuffed."

The lawsuit asked for at least $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages for each man. But Bryson said the $45,000 settlement was reasonable.

"The realities are that these individuals are not capable of maintaining and sustaining an ongoing litigation," he said. "This quick money to them represents an ability for them to get back on their feet."

Goodman said he thought the men "got what they wanted."

He added, "I would've asked for more than $15,000 if I was falsely arrested."

The three men each paid $5,000 of their respective $15,000 settlements to Bryson, which the attorney said was a "substantial discount" from his standard fees.

Hicks, 44, was the only one of the three who said he had devised a plan for his windfall.

"I'm going to get my own transitional housing," he said. "Like a typical citizen, I plan on looking through the newspaper and on foot for rentals. I have a game plan."

But Hicks admitted to a gambling problem, which he said has contributed to his off-and-on homelessness for the past several years. He also has worked off and on for a landscaping company, he said, but problems with his boss inspired him to "say 'Adios'" to the job.

Halfpap, 47, and Webber both said they don't have bank accounts and are still thinking about what to do with their newly acquired funds.

"I might get a place," the heavily bearded Halfpap said. "I'm not sure yet. I may see if I can make money off of this money by investing."

Halfpap said he has been homeless in the Las Vegas Valley for about three years. He came to the area from Phoenix in search of work.

"Things went from bad to worse," he said.

Webber said he is from Maine and has been homeless a couple of years. He's thinking about using the money to start some kind of business to help fellow homeless people. He said the lawsuit was never about the money.

"I'm still mad as hell," he said. "People can't believe this would happen in this day and age."

Civil rights leaders and advocates for the homeless have long claimed that the city unfairly targets and harasses homeless people.

City Manager Doug Selby ordered Huntridge Circle Park, a daytime hangout for the homeless, closed Nov. 27, citing safety concerns and the fatal stabbing of a homeless man in the park.

Several protesters, including now-City Council candidate Joe Sacco, later were arrested for refusing to leave the park.

A city ordinance banning giving food to indigent people was declared unconstitutional in November.

Review-Journal writer David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this report.