ALBANY — A federal jury this week found an Albany police officer responsible for abusing the rights of a suspect and awarded the victim $65,000 in compensatory damages.

The Albany Police Department is equally responsible for paying the award. The jury also found Phillip Lewis is entitled to punitive damages from Patrolman William Bonnani, and will decide next week how much. The city is not liable for punitive damages.

Bonnani was found to have used excessive force against Lewis, but jurors in U.S. District Court in Utica rejected the charge that the officer conducted a public strip search of him. Bonnani was found to have violated Lewis’ rights due to his race. Lewis is black. The Albany Police Department was found to have improperly trained, supervised and/or disciplined Bonnani.

Lewis claimed that on Nov. 23, 2002, he was approached by police and asked if he had a weapon. He replied that he did, at which point he was ordered to lie down and did so, and was handcuffed. Police took the weapon, and then, Lewis claimed, Bonnani stood on his head and ground his face into the asphalt pavement. While Bonnani denied this conduct, the jury apparently did not believe him. However, it also apparently did not believe Lewis had proved his charge that Bonnani conducted a public strip search of him.

The jury finding against the police department apparently related to previous allegations of misconduct by black complainants against Bonnani. David Brickman, Bonnani’s attorney, said jurors were permitted to hear about five of these cases. One case in the late 1990s resulted in a felony assault charge against Bonnani, but he was acquitted after trial. According to Brickman, none of these nor any other complaint against Bonnani was ultimately upheld in internal police department procedures or arbitration. Accordingly, he said, Bonnani remains employed and on duty as an Albany police officer.

Albany police spokesman Detective James Miller said Lewis did not file a formal complaint with the department, and so no formal internal investigation of his charges was done. Miller declined further comment on the case, because it is still under litigation.

Brickman said the verdict would be appealed on the grounds that the judge improperly allowed jurors to hear about the prior complaints against Bonnani.

In court documents, the Police Department and Bonnani denied any fault. They jointly stated that Lewis was arrested on Livingston Avenue after having allegedly pistol-whipped a man and beaten a woman, brandishing a gun in front of her children. He was charged with various offenses, and wound up in prison for criminal possession of a weapon. No witnesses backed up his account of the arrest, the city and Bonnani argued.

Patrick Radel, Lewis’ assigned counsel, said his client has been released and is living in the Capital Region. Radel said he would apply to the court for his fees, which would not come out of Lewis’ awards.

Brickman said Bonnani contends he did not have physical contact with Lewis at the time of the arrest, although he is listed as the arresting officer.

Lewis filed the original handwritten complaint in 2004, in the Groveland Correctional Facility near Geneseo.

Bonnani’s history also includes a 2003 incident when he fired one shot at a suspect’s vehicle, while another officer firing at the same vehicle accidentally shot and killed an innocent bystander, David Scaringe.