By The Associated Press

FORT WAYNE — A northeastern Indiana sheriff has agreed to pay $55,000 to cover the county’s settlement of a lawsuit over allegations that he shoved a 15-year-old boy during a festival.

Allen County Sheriff David Gladieux said this past week he apologized for the altercation, calling it an “unnecessary and preventable incident.”

The County Council voted earlier to pay settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by the boy’s family. Council member Ken Fries said he believed Gladieux should also pay the county’s other legal costs for the lawsuit, which The Journal Gazette reported have totaled nearly $41,000 so far.

Brad and Erin Bullerman’s son was a volunteer during Fort Wayne’s Three Rivers Festival in July 2019. The couple’s suit alleges that Gladieux “smelled of alcohol” and pushed their son to the ground, injuring him when he fell onto a metal stake, after the teen asked to see Gladieux’s VIP pass to a restroom area.

Gladieux, a Republican, first was elected sheriff in 2014. He agreed to a pretrial diversion agreement under which the misdemeanor charge will be dropped next month if he completes alcohol and anger management courses and pays a $334 fine.