EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A federal jury has rejected the claims of a man who says Eugene police stopped him for questions and a "pat-down" search because he is black.

The Register-Guard newspaper reported the eight-person jury took a little more than an hour Wednesday to deny the claims of Cortez Jordan, who sought $1 million for civil rights violations.

Jordan, 30, was stopped leaving a nightclub in 2004.

Officer Wayne Dorman testified that he saw Jordan clutching his right hand to the waistband of his sweat suit.

Dorman said he had been trained that such a mannerism might mean the person is concealing a gun under baggy clothing. But Dorman found no weapon.

Two of Jordan's companions testified he was walking normally with both arms swinging.

In a brief statement after the verdict, Dorman said, "I'm just happy that everyone finally got to hear my side of this and that we can finally put this incident to rest in our community."

Jordan said he was disappointed by the verdict.

He grew up in Junction City and had a job with the city of Eugene's aquatics program at the time of the incident. He was the designated driver for five friends that night and had not been drinking.

Jordan, his friends, his aunt and a counselor testified that he became depressed and withdrawn after the encounter, which came after he had experienced two other police stops he considered race-based.

Dorman told jurors that his shift commander had told officers on patrol that night to be vigilant for suspicious behavior among people leaving the Tsunami nightclub because of recent incidents of violence and concerns about weapons and gang activity.

Dorman testified he worried about stopping only Jordan for fear it might spark a racial profiling complaint.

But he said he decided to "do the right thing, which was to stop him and see if he had a gun. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't."

Dorman said Jordan denied having a gun and agreed when he asked permission to "pat-down" Jordan's waist area to verify it.

Dorman said Jordan became "upset and angry," claiming he had been targeted because he was black and demanding that Dorman perform a more thorough search to vindicate him, which Dorman said he did to placate Jordan.

In closing arguments, Jordan's attorney, Kevin Lasky, urged the jury to have "a difficult conversation about race."

He noted the judge, jury and attorneys in the case were all white.

"That word isn't overtly racist," Lasky said, "but isn't one of the first things you think of, if you're honest, (is) young, African-American men behaving in a criminal way?"

The image, Lasky charged, is why Dorman decided: "I'm going to talk to the black man."

But the city's defense attorney, Jens Schmidt, told the jury that Dorman "did exactly what we expect our Eugene police officers to do: use the least intrusive manner to rule out or in whether criminal activity is afoot."

Interim Police Chief Pete Kerns issued a statement shortly after the jury's verdict was announced saying it confirmed "the actions of the officer that day were legal and lawful."

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press)