PHILADELPHIA — An Italian Garden Bar security agent is suing Reading Police Department and Det. Joseph Snell, citing alleged malicious prosecution/wrongful imprisonment/false arrest and violation of due process.
Kevin Miller filed a complaint on Nov. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the defendants, alleging they failed to properly investigate the incident that resulted in plaintiff's imprisonment.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on June 4, 2016, he defended himself from David Frankhouser, a patron of the bar, as the security footage captured.
Frankhouser had a knife and claimed he was going to kill Miller, the suit says. Miller shot him when Frankhouser refused to stop advancing on him, it adds.
Miller was questioned by Detective Snell and was released after three hours. However, Snell subsequently arrested him 15 hours after he was released, the suit says.
On June 15, 2016, Miller was charged with first-degree murder. He was imprisoned for 18 months before being acquitted at trial, the suit says.
The plaintiff holds the Reading Police Department, Joseph Snell and John Does 1-10 responsible because the defendants allegedly did not have probable nor any cause to deny Miller bail and to incarcerate him for 18 months.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks an amount in excess of $75,000, statutory damages, punitive damages, compensatory damages including actual damages for financial and physical injuries but not limited to wage loss and loss of earning capacity and emotional distress.
Plaintiff also seeks attorneys' fees and expenses, costs of suit and equitable relief. He is represented by Matthew Weisberg of Weisberg Law in Morton and Gary Schafkopf of Schafkopf LLC in Bala Cynwyd.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Case No. is 5:18-cv-05178-JLS.