Inmate sues Warren police
The suit seeks $1,240,000.
WARREN — An inmate at Grafton Correctional Institute is suing Warren’s police department in federal court for allegedly using excessive force during his arrest Nov. 10, 2005.
The suit, filed by Russell D. Balch, names as defendants the city, police officer Robert Trimble, police Chief John Mandopoulos and a John Doe police officer.
The suit said Trimble stopped Balch for investigation of a traffic offense, ordered him out of the vehicle and arrested him just as Balch became physically ill. Balch stepped away from Trimble to vomit, and Trimble “slammed” Balch to the ground, causing him to scream in pain and then fall unconscious, the suit said.
Balch was later booked into the Trumbull County Jail, where he was checked 10 times by the jail nurse and was told that his shoulder was not dislocated, the suit said.
However, after being transferred to the Portage County Jail, X-rays revealed that Balch had an injury to his left clavicle and a separated acromioclavicular joint in the shoulder, requiring reconstructive surgery, the suit said.
The suit said Trimble’s actions and the failure to act by a John Doe officer constituted denial of Balch’s constitutional rights to be free from excessive force. It said Mandopoulos and the city failed to adequately supervise, train and/or discipline officers.
The suit seeks $500,000 from Trimble and John Doe for physical and emotional injuries, $100,000 from Mandopoulos and the city for its policies and procedures and $20,000 from Trimble and John Doe for punitive damages.
Balch began serving a five-year prison sentence in July 2006 for aggravated vehicular assault, DUI and other offenses that occurred in Portage County.
Warren Law Director Greg Hicks could not be reached to comment.
The case is assigned to Judge Peter Economus and Magistrate George Limbert.