A federal jury found Suffolk County liable for $750,000 in damages over the arrest and alleged beating of a man nearly a decade ago.

Michael McDevitt, of Deer Park, says he was trying to help his son's girlfriend, who was being talked to by police about a dispute in 2014. He says he told an officer he would not leave the room.

"The second time he asked me to leave, 'Boom,' he just hauled off and hit me in the face," McDevitt says. "Then he kept beating me all the way around the kitchen, and then he lifted me up, threw me on the floor, kneeing me, elbowing me."

McDevitt and his attorney, Cory Morris, later sued Suffolk County, the police department and several police officers.

Morris says what McDevitt suffered was due to a pattern from the county.

"The county is responsible for this police misconduct, the coverups, the beatings and the malicious prosecutions of persons similar to Mike McDevitt," Morris says.

The attorney says he hopes the ruling will now force federal monitoring of the department and oversight from the public.

"We brought that case for change, not for dollars and centers, but for change, real change in Suffolk County," Morris says.