Ohio arrestee files lawsuit alleging police used excessive force News
Ohio arrestee files lawsuit alleging police used excessive force

Recent Ohio arrestee Timothy Davis filed a civil rights lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in federal court on Sunday alleging Columbus, Ohio, police used excessive force to detain him in a convenience store.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division [official website], named defendants as the City of Columbus, Officer Joseph Bogard, Officer Matthew Baker, and Other Unknown Officers or those officers who participated in Davis’ arrest. Columbus police officers arrested Davis on September 1 on a warrant for assault of a police officer [NYT report], but the officers allegedly failed to disclose this information to Davis at the time of the arrest.

Davis alleges the officers were unnecessarily violent and caused him great physical and mental harm.

[W]ithout cause or provocation [the officers] tased and seized hold of Timothy Davis and began to brutally punch, kick, beat and verbally abuse him with profanities and/or failed to intervene to prevent this abuse. As the beating of [] Davis was happening two or more of the Defendant Officers positioned their bodies to screen their fellow officers’ excessive use of force against [] Davis from witnesses, attempting to give their fellow officers conspiratorial anonymity in which to continue their use of excessive force against Timothy Davis.

The lawsuit sets forth liability for, among other counts, unconstitutional seizure, assault and battery, and civil conspiracy.