Brutality lawsuit against Allentown police officer upheld (original) (raw)
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allentown police car
A brutality lawsuit against Allentown police officer Ryan Koons will stand, according to a Dec. 30, 2015, ruling.
(lehighvalleylive.com file photo)
A federal judge will allow a brutality lawsuit filed against an Allentown police officer to proceed.
The handwritten lawsuit was filed in December 2014 by Michael McHugh without the benefit of an attorney. McHugh, 33, of Allentown, filed it while serving a five- to 23-month sentence in Lehigh County Prison.
He alleges officer Ryan Koons lunged at him from 50 feet away and pushed his head into a parked minivan. The suit says Koons repeatedly kneed McHugh in the back, handcuffed him too tightly and slammed him into a glass window at the police station.
McHugh alleges he suffered a broken jaw after the July 10, 2014, scuffle that started in the 300 block of West Gordon Street in Allentown.
Koons broke his leg during the incident, court records say. It took two officers to arrest McHugh, who struggled and cursed as he was taken into custody, records say.
A jury convicted McHugh of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, driving without a license and driving without a valid inspection after the incident.
The scuffle ensued after police pulled McHugh over for driving a car with no rear lights and a loud exhaust. Upon closer inspection, police saw the car had no ignition and had to be started by connecting two wires. The bumper was held on by wires, court records say.
McHugh begged police not to tow the car. Then he asked for permission to call his own towing service rather than rely on the service police called.
Koons allegedly shoved McHugh violently and urged him to leave, but McHugh refused and continued to argue with police to wait for McHugh's preferred towing service.
Then Koons allegedly lunged at McHugh, attacked him and took him into custody.
In his Dec. 30, 2015, opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Joel Slomsky dismissed most allegations in McHugh's suit. He dismissed claims that the arrest was unlawful, saying that claim could not stand because McHugh was convicted of the charges by a jury.
He dismissed claims that the car was unlawfully searched, that McHugh's due process rights were violated, that McHugh was defamed and that he was a victim of prosecutorial misconduct. The judge said McHugh cannot claim that city police officers were improperly trained.
But McHugh can argue that Koons used excessive force, assaulted him and inflicted emotional distress.
Although Koons' arrest was lawful, McHugh made a plausible case that he used too much force, Slomsky decided.
Slomsky said Koons' attorney has 21 days to file an answer to McHugh's claims. The judge determined McHugh has the right to an attorney to oversee the lawsuit, and one will be appointed from a civil rights panel, records say.
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Koons' attorney, John Philip Morganstern, of Philadelphia did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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