(06-22) 09:18 PDT OAKLAND --

The city of Oakland has agreed to pay $40,000 in punitive damages that a judge had ordered a former police officer to pay out of his own pocket for illegally strip-searching two men in public.

Spencer Troy Lucas and Kirby Bradshaw had their pants pulled down on a busy West Oakland street in 2005 by police after then-Officer Ingo Mayer stopped them for no lawful reason, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel wrote last year after a bench trial in the men's lawsuit.

The judge ordered the city to pay $105,000 in compensatory damages to Lucas and $100,000 to Bradshaw.

Patel also ordered Mayer to pay $25,000 out of his own pocket to Lucas and $15,000 to Bradshaw. Mayer, who retired on disability after serving 11 years on the force, asked the city to indemnify him for the combined $40,000 damage award.

The City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday to approve the payout.

The officer's attorney, John Verber, said Mayer had been acting in good faith. The city has since amended its strip-search policies.

Verber wrote in a memo to the city that his client had been cleared of wrongdoing by police internal affairs. "The punitive damage award issued by the court is particularly upsetting for Mr. Mayer because he knows he did nothing wrong," Verber wrote.

Verber cited a state government code section that allows a city to pay punitive damages awarded against one of its employees.

Councilwomen Desley Brooks, Nancy Nadel and Rebecca Kaplan voted against the payout.

"It is inexcusable that we would allow such a practice to take place and that we not look out for the rights of our citizens," Brooks said. "Punitive damages are not something a judge does lightly. You have to display pretty bad conduct. When we pay that judgment instead of allowing them to pay it, we send the wrong message."

In March, the City Council agreed to pay more than $832,000 in legal fees to the men's attorneys, John Burris and Michael Haddad.

Lucas was driving a Cadillac when he and Bradshaw were pulled over by Mayer at 32nd Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in West Oakland on Dec. 15, 2005.

Mayer testified that he had stopped the car for a traffic violation but could not provide a reason for having done so, Patel said.

Mayer handcuffed Lucas and undid his belt buckle, causing Lucas' pants to fall to his ankles, Patel wrote. Then the officer asked Lucas if he had any drugs in his buttocks, pulled his boxer shorts halfway down and shook them against his genitals as a crowd gathered to watch, the judge wrote.

Another officer similarly searched Bradshaw at Mayer's direction, Bradshaw testified.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Matthai Kuruvila contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected since it appeared in print editions.

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Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee