An aspiring lawyer who got busted for giving West Village cops the finger is now $15,000 richer.
In a deal approved by a judge yesterday, Robert Bell, of New Jersey, agreed to drop his civil-rights suit in exchange for the taxpayer-funded payout.
Bell had claimed that his middle-finger salute behind the backs of three NYPD cops was an “obviously protected form of speech” under the First Amendment.
His Manhattan federal court suit also said he was wrongly arrested by a fourth cop who saw him briefly display the disrespectful digit outside the Slaughtered Lamb pub on West Fourth Street in 2011.
Bell’s lawyer, Robert Quackenbush, said he recognized “that police officers have very tough jobs.”
“But, as trained professionals, part of their job is to have thick skin, to exercise restraint in the face of criticism, polite or otherwise,” he added.
City lawyer Ryan Shaffer said, “The settlement is in the parties’ best interest. It is not an indication of any police wrongdoing.”
bruce.golding@nypost.com