Jury awards $22M to man kept in closet

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

A jury has awarded $22 million to a man who says he was brutally beaten by an East Cleveland police detective, locked in a storage closet with no toilet for four days and given nothing to eat or drink except for a carton of milk.

The Cleveland jury deliberated for a day before finding for Arnold Black, 48, of East Cleveland, in a three-day civil trial. Relatives testified that Black suffers from physical and emotional problems from the beating and had to undergo surgery to remove dried blood on his brain. In a strange twist, the trial was held without attorneys representing East Cleveland. City Law Director Willa Hemmons, when contacted Wednesday by The Associated Press, said she wasn’t aware that a trial had taken place.

She said the trial should have been stopped because of an appeal she had filed with the Ohio Supreme Court and any verdict should be void. An appeals court twice refused to hear appeals filed by Hemmons on rulings made by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Sutula that excluded evidence and witnesses the city had hoped to present at trial.

An East Cleveland police detective said at trial that he had asked a patrol officer to stop Black’s truck April 28, 2012, because he believed there was cocaine inside, said Black’s attorney, DiCello said.

When no drugs were found, detective Randy Hicks began punching Black in the face and head and patrol officer Jonathan O’Leary held Black upright so that Hicks could continue the beating, Black testified. Black also testified that the officers put him in the closet to hide his injuries.