9/24 UPDATE: The Board of Estimates approved the settlement this morning in a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Comptroller Joan Pratt, City Solicitor George Nilson and DPW Director Rudolph Chow voting in favor, and City Council President Bernard C. Young casting a “no” vote.

A man sentenced to jail for a drug conviction has nevertheless won a $49,000 settlement from Baltimore City stemming from his arrest.

Charles Faulkner says he was assaulted on September 1, 2010 by Detective Daniel Hersl following his arrest in East Baltimore.

After being sentenced to one year in jail for possession of a controlled substance not marijuana, Faulkner (now 25 years old) filed a $2 million lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court against Hersl, who he said beat him after he was handcuffed.

Hersl, however, contended that Faulkner tried to flee after the detective found him “lying on the concrete front porch of [a] residence located at 1900 Wolfe Street.” Hersl says he tackled Faulkner, who fell to the ground, breaking his nose and jaw.

Hersl was pursuing Faulkner after he and a partner spotted him “engage in what appeared to be a hand-to-hand illegal narcotics transaction” on East North Avenue, according to a settlement memo submitted to the Board of Estimates.

While Hersl’s partner “immediately recovered five ziplock bags containing suspected cocaine” on the street, the detective pursued Faulkner in an unmarked car, leading to the confrontation and arrest a block away.

The city says it has opted to pay the $49,000 settlement rather than go to trial and face “the uncertainties and unpredictability of jury verdicts.”

The settlement, which terminates the lawsuit, was approved in Circuit Court last month and will be formally ratified at tomorrow’s Board of Estimates meeting.