The city and the Central Park Five — who were wrongly convicted of the beating and rape of a jogger in 1989 — have agreed on a $40 million settlement, multiple sources said Thursday.
The agreement — which still needs the approval of Manhattan federal Judge Deborah Batts and City Comptroller Scott Stringer— would resolve a $250 million civil-rights lawsuit the men filed in 2003, charging they were wrongly convicted and imprisoned in the notorious case, sources told The Post.
Mayor de Blasio had vowed to settle, putting an end to a lurid chapter in New York history in which a “wolf pack” of “wilding” youths were said to have attacked 28-year-old Trisha Meili as she took her evening jog through the park.
The five men were found guilty at trial — and did prison time — but their convictions were tossed in 2002 after a career criminal confessed to the attack.
Their suit alleged that cops forced false confessions through threats and beatings, and that key DNA evidence, which would have cleared them, was deliberately ignored.
Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise were all convicted of the beating and rape of the investment banker near the park’s Reservoir.
In 2002, a judge granted a motion to vacate the 13-year-old convictions after a serial rapist who was already in jail said he committed the crime, a confession backed up by DNA evidence.
The Wall Street Journal, however, reported Thursday that two doctors who treated Meili said in recent interviews that some of her wounds were not consistent with Matias Reyes’ account of the attack.
The revelation castes doubt on the claim that Reyes was the only attacker.
Known as the “Central Park Five,” the men, now in their late 30s to early 40s, were 14 to 16 when arrested.
De Blasio’s desire to settle the case was in stark contrast to the Bloomberg administration’s opposition to a deal.
The city’s Law Department, an aide for Stringer, and Jonathan C. Moore, a lawyer representing four of the plaintiffs, all declined comment.