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 The settlement requires police to warn demonstrators and give them
reasonable time to disperse before using tear gas or other chemical
agents in response to non-criminal activity.
U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson dismissed the case formally on
Thursday, but retained jurisdiction through 2017 to enforce the
settlement terms. The settlement follows along the lines of an order
Jackson entered in December.
Police are not required to warn or give time to disperse when there
is an imminent threat of bodily harm to people, damage to property
or if law enforcers must defend themselves.
 Sometimes violent protests followed the shooting in August of
Michael Brown, 18, during a confrontation with Ferguson policeman
Darren Wilson and a grand jury's decision in November not to indict
Wilson.
Demonstrators had said police arrived at peaceful protests wearing
riot gear and equipped with armored vehicles and used tear gas,
pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
The lawsuit was brought by a coffeehouse owner, two co-founders of
an area activist organization, a legal observer, a professor from
Saint Louis University, and a college student.
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The chiefs of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police, the St. Louis
County Police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol who commanded
the law enforcement response to the protests were named as
defendants in the lawsuit.
(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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