COVINGTON — A Park Hills man has filed suit against the city of Fort Wright and Firstar bank, saying his constitutional rights were violated and he was detained unlawfully because of his race.

        Gary Gentry Sr., and his wife, Mildred Gentry, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Covington in connection with an incident that occurred last February. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in punitive damages.

        According to the lawsuit, on Feb. 16, 2000, Mr. Gentry, who is black, had cashed a check at the Firstar branch office on Dixie Highway in Fort Wright, where he had an account.

        Earlier in the day, according to police reports, officers from the Fort Wright Police Department advised banks in the area that a black man, reported by employee witnesses to be in his mid-20s, was attempting to shortchange bank tellers.

        Police reports said an employee of Firstar called 911 and hung up because she said a black man — later identified by the police report as Mr. Gentry — matched police descriptions of the suspect and was acting suspiciously.

        Mr. Gentry, employed by a paving company, is 45, according to police reports. He was shopping at Walgreen's when Fort Wright police, responding to the 911 call, arrested and handcuffed him, searched his personal items and placed him in a police cruiser, the lawsuit said.

        Mr. Gentry was later unhandcuffed and taken to the Guardian Savings Bank in Fort Wright, where one of the reported short-changings occurred, police reports said. Mr. Gentry and another African-American man were requested to walk in front of assembled employees and turn around, the reports said.

        When employees at the bank did not identify either Mr. Gentry or the other man as the subject who had attempted to short-change the teller, they were released, police reports said.

        The lawsuit claims Mr. Gentry was unlawfully arrested and detained, and that police racially profiled him.

        “We want to vindicate Mr. Gentry's rights,” said David R. Steele, his attorney.

        The suit asks the court to award “punitive damages sufficient to properly punish defendants for their conduct and deter similar conduct in the future.”

        Fort Wright Police Chief Dan Kreinest said the lawsuit's description of the incident conflicts with police reports. The police reports say Mr. Gentry and the other man were asked to respond voluntarily to the Guardian Savings Bank for a “show line-up.”

        “We feel we acted appropriately,” Chief Kreinest said.

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