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Lawsuit claims charges were in retaliation
YOUNGSTOWN
A civil lawsuit alleges city police filed new criminal charges last month against two South Side women in retaliation for an internal-affairs complaint and an earlier lawsuit filed by one of them.
The new lawsuit was filed Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Desiree Johnson, 45, of West Princeton Avenue, and Doretha Weston, 35, of Miller Avenue, against the city, and Lt. Kevin Mercer and Patrolman Patrick Mulligan, both of the city police department.
City Law Director Anthony Farris said late Friday he could not comment because he had not read the new complaint.
In July 2011, Johnson filed suit in common-pleas court against Mercer and Mulligan for their alleged actions in a July 10, 2009, incident involving her 12-year-old son, and the officers removed that suit to federal court two months later.
The federal complaint, pending before U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson, alleges the officers violated her son’s constitutional rights when Mulligan held him at gunpoint and Mercer performed a body- cavity search on him without justification on the city’s South Side.
In the new lawsuit, the women alleged the officers used excessive force against them and violated their constitutional rights after a March 30, 2011, traffic stop on the city’s South Side.
The suit alleges that Mercer body-slammed Weston onto the ground and kneed Johnson in the stomach, and that both officers punched Johnson in the face.
Weston initially was charged with resisting arrest, failure to use a turn signal, obstructing justice and driving under suspension.
Johnson was charged initially with resisting arrest, assault on the officers and obstructing justice. The initial police report says Johnson punched both officers in their faces.
All charges against both women, except obstructing justice, were dropped in April 2011, the lawsuit said.
However, on March 15 of this year, the officers initiated charges of resisting arrest and driving under license suspension against Weston and two counts of assault on a police officer against Johnson, the suit said.
Thursday’s lawsuit and the federal complaint demand jury trials and seek damages in excess of $25,000. The new common-pleas court lawsuit is before Judge James C. Evans.