Mt. Vernon Register-News

Local

November 16, 2007

Federal lawsuit alleges excessive force by MVPD

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By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — A city man who was arrested in November 2006 has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, former Mt. Vernon Police Detective Ken McElroy, Chief Chris Mendenall and the police department alleging assault and battery, negligence and use of excessive force.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday on behalf of Justin Pierce, alleges that McElroy, “without cause or provocation on the part of (Pierce) ... and/or in concert with others, struck and beat (Pierce) about the head, shoved (him) into walls, choked (him) about the neck and yelled insulting names at the plaintiff,” and that Pierce did not pose a threat to anyone at the time.

“...the use of physical force was unreasonable, excessive and totally without justification,” the lawsuit states.

As a result, the lawsuit alleges Pierce “sustained severe and permanent injuries, and was, and will be hindered and prevented from attending to his usual duties and affairs of life, and has lost and will lose, the value of that time aforementioned.”

Pierce also claims “great pain and anguish, both in mind and body, and will, in the future, continue to suffer. (Pierce) further expended and became liable for, and will expend and become liable for, large sums of money for medical care and services ... In addition (he) lost a job opportunity as a result of this incident thereby sustaining a loss of income.”

Negligence is charged against McElroy and Mendenall individually and in their capacities with the city at the time of the alleged incident.

“... The action of (McElroy) did not comport with the standards of conduct ordinarily exercised by law enforcement officers under the same or similar circumstances, including but not limited to ... utilization of improper investigation procedures; utilization of improper arrest procedures; violation of department regulations on use of force inflicting bodily harm; failure to stop fellow officers from inflicting bodily harm upon plaintiff when the use of such force was in violation of department regulations. ...”

The lawsuit alleges Mendenall, and the city are responsible for ensuring the proper use of force by its officers and “were negligent in the hiring, supervision and/or training of Officer K. McElroy and had ignored prior complaints of improper use of physical force by Officer K. McElroy.”

The lawsuit states “the actions of Officer McElroy violated the rights of the plaintiff under the Constitution of the United States of America and demonstrated a deliberate indifference towards those rights.”

According to Mendenall, he has not been served with the lawsuit yet and can’t answer to the allegations. He stated the lawsuit as a personnel issue.

“Sgt. McElroy is no longer employed by Mt. Vernon,” Mendenall said. “He resigend in February. I haven’t seen the complaint, but I would dispute (Pierce) was injured while in custody. He didn’t seek treatment while in custody and officers didn’t witness any signs of injury.”

Pierce, through his attorney, Bill Milner of Salem, has asked for in excess of $75,000 in compensatory damages, in excess of $75,000 in punitive damages and all costs associated with the case.

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