Thursday, July 01, 1999
Pair arrested in robbery file suit against city, police and accusers
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Two Cincinnatians have sued the city, arresting officers and ATM customers whom the pair accuse of wrongly identifying them as robbers.
Mark A. Ward, of Argus Road, College Hill, and Ronald Cuthbertson, Blair Avenue, Avondale, said the only thing they had in common with the robbers was that they were young black men.
Their civil-rights suit, filed by attorney Kenneth Lawson in U.S. District Court, seeks unspecified damages.
Mr. Lawson said Wednesday that police later arrested three juveniles in the robberies and charges against his clients were dropped after they were held for eight days.
Mr. Lawson said police investigating robberies at an automated teller machine in Corryville on April 27 mistakenly focused on his clients although neither their physiques nor their clothing fit descriptions broadcast by police.
Further, he said, officers were looking for youths on foot and his clients drove into a nearby parking area where they could see at least one parked police car.
Officers used excessive force and ignored requests to check video surveillance tapes at the ATM and his clients' alibis, Mr. Lawson said.
Mr. Lawson said his clients were “doing nothing but driving while black” and they were arrested “solely because of the color of their skin.”
Finally, they sued the victims because Mr. Lawson said their identification of Mr. Ward and Mr. Cuthbertson led to their false imprisonment.
No one in the city solicitor's office was available for comment on Wednesday.
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