PHILADELPHIA – A Delaware County man who alleged his constitutional rights were violated when he was subjected to an illegal search and seizure during a traffic stop by a Darby Township police officer, has settled his claims.
Stephon Johnson first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 6 versus Darby Township, its Deputy Chief of Police Cory Cooper and Officer Steven O’Hara. All parties are of Glenolden.
“On or about June 22, 2020 at approximately 9 p.m., plaintiff, Stephon Johnson, was lawfully operating his vehicle on Hook Road in the Township of Darby. He noticed that he was being followed by a Township of Darby Police Department vehicle. After being followed for approximately two to three minutes, the Darby Township police vehicle activated its overhead lights and plaintiff immediately pulled to the side of the road,” the suit said.
“Plaintiff was approached by defendant Police Officer Steven O’Hara. Officer O’Hara requested plaintiff’s license, registration and insurance card. Plaintiff immediately complied with Officer O’Hara’s request. Officer O’Hara took plaintiff’s credentials to his police car and after several minutes returned to plaintiff’s vehicle.”
When Officer O’Hara returned to the plaintiff’s vehicle, he ordered him to step out of his car. Although Johnson asked why he was being ordered out of the car, he complied with Officer O’Hara’s request. When Johnson asked Officer O’Hara if he could record the encounter, Officer O’Hara told him he was not permitted to do so.
O’Hara, the suit said, then conducted an illegal pat-down of Johnson’s body, placed him in handcuffs and further conducted an illegal search of Johnson’s vehicle for 45 minutes, after being denied permission to do so by the plaintiff. O’Hara allegedly found nothing during the search.
“When Officer O’Hara completed the unlawful search, he removed the handcuffs and sarcastically said to plaintiff, ‘Are you going to protest me?,” referring to the recent peaceful protests which had been going on since the police killing of George Floyd,” per the suit.
“Later that day, plaintiff went to the Township of Darby Police Department to make a citizen’s complaint and to try to ascertain the identity of Officer O’Hara, and was met by Deputy Chief of Police Cory Cooper. Plaintiff explained to defendant Cooper his earlier encounter with Officer O’Hara.”
The suit added Cooper briefly left and when he returned he falsely told the plaintiff that there was no record of any Township of Darby police officer having any interaction with him that day, and also falsely told the plaintiff that there was no way to ascertain the name of the officer who had illegally detained him and searched his vehicle.
“Upon information and belief, defendant Cooper could have easily gotten the name of the officer who had detained plaintiff by utilizing the police department’s GPS data to determine which police car had been used in detaining plaintiff. The identity of the officer could also have been discovered by reviewing patrol activity logs,” the suit said.
“Rather than utilizing means at his disposal to discover the identity of Officer O’Hara, defendant Cooper consciously decided to withhold that information from plaintiff in order to prevent plaintiff from learning the identity of Officer O’Hara. Defendant Cooper withheld the identity of Officer O’Hara with the intention of preventing plaintiff from exercising his First Amendment right to access of the courts. More specifically, defendant Cooper was actively trying to prevent plaintiff from being able to seek redress in the courts for the illegal and unconstitutional conduct of Officer O’Hara.”
Johnson claimed he was deprived of his right to freedom of speech, to be free from unlawful search and seizure and to be secure in his person and property, and furthermore, was similarly deprived of the right not to be the victim of conspiracies of state actors to violate the aforementioned clearly established rights.
After an amended complaint was filed in the case on Oct. 5 (and both Darby Township and Cooper were dismissed as defendants from the litigation), an answer was filed by counsel for O’Hara on Oct. 13, which denied the plaintiff’s charges.
“On June 22, 2020, plaintiff was observed by Officer O’Hara operating his motor vehicle with a counterfeit inspection sticker at or near the intersection of Hook Road and Sharon Avenue and was signaled to pull over and did so. Plaintiff had a counterfeit emissions inspection sticker. Plaintiff did not have a valid driver’s license when stopped and was not lawfully operating the motor vehicle. Officer O’Hara ran the operator through NCIC/CLEAN which confirmed that he had an expired license. Plaintiff was not ordered out of the vehicle,” per the filing.
“Plaintiff did not ask Officer O’Hara if he could record the encounter and did not attempt to do so. Officer O’Hara did not grab the cell phone and throw it inside the vehicle. On the contrary, the officer never took or held the cell phone. Plaintiff was given Officer O’Hara’s name on a card at the scene and told that the citations would be filed with the Court. Officer O’Hara did not conduct a pat down of the plaintiff. The remaining averments are unfounded conclusions of law to which no responsive pleading is required. Plaintiff was not placed in handcuffs nor was any request made to search his vehicle interior or trunk.”
O’Hara’s counsel further denied that Johnson was placed in handcuffs for 45 minutes or that his vehicle was searched, but rather that the entire stop, including the issuance of citations, lasted less than 10 minutes.
In 11 additional affirmative defenses, O’Hara’s counsel argued that the defendant had qualified immunity for his actions and asserted a counter-claim against Johnson, consisting of attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, court costs and other damages under Pennsylvania law as a matter of law.
UPDATE
After a settlement conference was held on Feb. 2, the case ended nine days later. Terms of a settlement were not disclosed. Per a stipulation between plaintiff and defense counsel, the case against the remaining lone defendant, O’Hara, was dismissed.
“Upon agreement of counsel for plaintiff and for defendant Steven O’Hara in the above-captioned matter, kindly withdraw all claims brought in this matter by plaintiff Stephon Johnson against Township of Darby Police Officer Steven O’Hara,” the stipulation stated.
For counts of federal civil rights violations and supplemental state law claims, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, such other and further relief as appears reasonable and just, and a jury trial as to each defendant and as to each count.
The plaintiff is represented by Patrick G. Geckle of the Law Offices of Patrick G. Geckle, in Philadelphia.
The defendant is represented by Suzanne McDonough of Holsten & Associates, in Media.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-03505
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com