Ethics Question

[quirkasaurus]

$1/$2 fixed limit HE

similar situation happened to me - - - hitting the
"winning straight" on the turn, I ~believe~ the
river paired the board -- at least, I thought so...

i lay my hand down and say "straight", guy to me
left shows me his "two-pair", says remorsefully,
"two-pair", and the dealer ships me the pot.

10 seconds later, the guy goes "wait, I had 2 pair
before the river!! Wasn't the river a 9??? I had
a boat!!"

I honestly thought he was correct, but I wasn't
fer sure... but he wouldn't stop whining about
it so I finally flipped him $10 of chips and
said "'cuz I'm not positive . . . . "

he said "cool." and we left it at that.
The overall pot was around $25...