Friday, June 25, 1999
Municipalities, cops being sued
Complainant alleges excessive force used
BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Lockland man is suing three municipalities and two individual officers, alleging excessive use of force and false arrest during a January encounter.
Jimmie Traylor, who filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court, is seeking $2.5 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages. He is requesting a jury trial.
Named as defendants are: the Village of Woodlawn, Chief Walter Obermeyer, Sgt. Walter Davis and Patrolman Shane Bininger; the City of Springdale and Chief Michael Laage; and the Village of Evendale and Chief Gary Foust. The suit alleges Sgt. Davis and Patrolman Bininger used excessive force on Mr. Traylor, while officers from Springdale and Evendale failed to intervene.
Reached Thursday evening, Chief Laage said he had no knowledge of the incident. Chief Obermeyer said the village's solicitor advised him not to comment, and Chief Foust could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit gave this account of events:
• Mr. Traylor and his 8-year-old son, who attends Glendale Elementary School, were inside his 1988 Dodge van Jan. 10 with the engine running. The van was parked in a private parking lot.
As Mr. Traylor was praying and holding his son in his arms, two Woodlawn officers tapped on the window and asked him to exit the van.
• As Mr. Traylor exited the van, “Patrolman Bininger accosted him, grabbed him by the sweater, threw him to the ground, and twisted his sweater, attempting to choke him.”
Meanwhile, the suit says, officers from Springdale and Evendale arrived on the scene, sprayed Mace in Mr. Traylor's face and the officers slammed him to the ground.
• After Mr. Traylor was thrown to the ground, the suit says, Sgt. Davis knocked out the window and pulled his son through the broken window. The suit also alleges that when Mr. Traylor was taken to University Hospital, Sgt. Davis told hospital officials that he “had a cord and a hammer and that he was beating on his son.”
• As a result of the incident, Mr. Traylor received emotional and physical injuries according to the suit. Woodlawn police charged Mr. Traylor with child endangerment, resisting arrest and inducing panic, according to the lawsuit. But the suit says Mr. Traylor was found not guilty on all charges during a trial, which ended in May.
Mr. Traylor is also suing the defendants charging assault and battery, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, denial of substantive due process, failure to intervene, and a failure to properly train, instruct and supervise officers.
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