PHILADELPHIA — A man is suing the East Cocalico Township Police Department and David Fisher, an officer on the department, alleging malicious prosecution, false criminal charges, false arrest and false imprisonment.
Brandon Reilly filed a complaint on April 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the East Cocalico Township Police Department and Officer David Fisher alleging that the government officials violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, in July 2014, he was sitting outside the Reamstown Athletic Association building waiting for a friend when police officers arrived after receiving reports of disorderly conduct inside the building. The suit says the plaintiff was picked up, brought to the police station and charged with a crime, but no investigation was conducted.
After a week, he received a citation for public drunkenness and was obliged to pay a fine, the suit alleges, adding that in November 2014, Lebanon Valley Police contacted his employer to revoke his gun carrier permit because of the charge. As a result, the suit says, he suffered financial losses, loss of his gun carrier permit and severe emotional distress.
The plaintiff holds East Cocalico Township Police Department and Officer David Fisher responsible because the defendants allegedly instituted criminal action against him, failed to properly investigate, did not have probable cause to arrest, charge or accuse him of criminal acts and deliberately ignored and failed to advise prosecutors of evidence and accounts of the event that exonerated him.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensation for statutory damages, actual damages, attorneys' fees, expenses and costs of suit. He is represented by Matthewe B. Weisberg and David A. Berlin of Weisberg Law in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Case number 5:16-cv-01822