[B]ENNINGTON — A Pownal man is suing Bennington police for injuring him and violating his civil rights following his arrest in 2015 for driving under the influence of drugs.
The suit, filed by Andrew Clyde, 39, in U.S. District Court, names the town of Bennington, Bennington police officers James Gulley and Nicholas Cervero, and other department personnel as yet unidentified, as defendants.
Clyde has claimed in the suit that the mistreatment followed his arrest on charges of DUI-drugs, felony attempted escape and disorderly conduct. Clyde was arrested immediately following a motor vehicle accident, on Jan. 6, 2015.
According to the suit, a Superior Court Criminal Division jury found Clyde guilty of the DUI charge, but acquitted him on the other two charges.
Clyde’s complaint, filed by Rutland attorney Mark Furlan, says Clyde was held for five hours at the Bennington police department, while being processed on the charges.
The suit says that after Clyde was told he would be transported to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center to have a blood sample drawn, Gulley grabbed Clyde by the back of his neck and “threw him against a corner of a wall or a door jamb or possibly a pipe, which the back of [Clyde’s] head impacted.”
The suit goes on to say the officer “grabbed [Clyde] by his arms and shoulders and threw him on the ground face-first … Gulley then drove his knee into, and a considerable amount of his body weight into, [Clyde’s] back.”
Gulley then “handcuffed the plaintiff in again, and in so doing, fractured a bone in plaintiff’s wrist,” the suit says.
Cervero is named in the suit because, the complaint says, he failed to intervene or take any action to stop Gulley, or protect Clyde.
The suit says that at the hospital Clyde complained to Gulley and others about pain in his wrist, but he did not receive medical attention.
Three days later, the suit says, Clyde went to the SVMC emergency department, “where he was diagnosed with a concussion and fractured wrist.”
“He continues to experience sharp, throbbing, aching pain in his neck, and sharp aching pain in his back. His range of motion in turning his head has been significantly diminished,” the suit says.
Clyde also has “experienced chronic anxiety, chronic depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder” as a result of his treatment, the suit says.
The suit was filed in January. The town of Bennington has sought to have the suit dismissed, and the town removed as a defendant.
“The town denies the allegations in the complaint and is requesting that the complaint against the town be dismissed,” said Nancy Sheahan, who is representing the town of Bennington, on Friday.
Attorneys for the police officers named in the suit could not be reached for comment. In a response to the complaint, filed by attorney Kaveh Shahi, the officers also deny the allegations and seek the suit’s dismissal.
Among the allegations in Clyde’s complaint are that the town failed to provide adequate training in the proper use of force on suspects in custody, that it failed to enforce a system to hold officers accountable for excessive use of force, that the town failed to discipline its officers and employees in a meaningful way, and that a combination of all of the factors “created a custom in which the constitutional rights of persons situated similarly to plaintiff Clyde on January 6, 2015, were and would be violated.”
In her motion to dismiss the suit, Bennington’s attorney contended the suit failed to state legal grounds upon which relief could be granted. Sheahan’s motion said the suit failed to identify the training deficiencies that led to the mistreatment, and that it failed to offer any “meritorious” complaints against any department officer.
Shahi, the attorney for the police officers, said in his response that the “plaintiff’s injuries were the result of his own unreasonable conduct,” and that “plaintiff was not deprived of any rights, statutory or otherwise.”
Shahi cited the failure on the part of the plaintiff to seek administrative remedies before taking the matter to court.
Town Manager Stuart Hurd would not comment on the suit on Friday except to say “we do have counsel and are pursuing appropriate resolution.”
The suit seeks “real, actual, compensatory, consequential, special, and punitive damages” of not less than $75,000 plus attorney’s fees. Three DVDs relating to the incident have been handed over to Clyde’s attorney, according to court records.
This is the second complaint against the Bennington Police Department relating to the behavior of its officers in the course of an arrest. Shamel Alexander, who is African American, sued the department in federal court in 2016, claiming police had profiled him on the basis of his race, and violated his right to be free from unreasonable searches. The suit is pending.
Furlan said Friday that Clyde’s suit has no racial component.
