PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia couple allege Philadelphia Police Department officers unlawfully detained them and otherwise violated their civil rights during an arrest warrant-related search for the former occupant of their home.
Richard Miller and Tonya Crawley filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Dec. 1 versus the City of Philadelphia, Detective Bova, Detective John Doe, Detective Jane Doe, Police Officers John Doe 1-10 and SWAT Officers John Doe 1-10. All parties are of Philadelphia.
“On Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, approximately between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., plaintiffs Miller and Crawley were in bed sleeping when plaintiff Miller was awoken from banging on his front door. Plaintiff Miller proceeded to get out of bed and walk to the bottom of the staircase, which in turn woke plaintiff Crawley. Plaintiff Crawley proceeded to get out of bed and went to the bedroom door to get her robe. As plaintiff Miller made his way to the bottom of the staircase, defendants SWAT Officers John Doe 1-10 and/or defendants Police Officers John Doe 1-10 were already coming up the stairs with their guns pointed at plaintiff Miller,” the suit says.
“Plaintiff Miller proceeded to ask the officers what was going on and was repeatedly told to ‘shut the fuck up’ and to come downstairs. Plaintiff Miller complied and went downstairs where one of the SWAT Team Members told plaintiff Miller to sit down and that the detective would explain everything. As plaintiff Miller was sitting down, he asked for a pillow for his back as he has cancer in his spine. His request was ignored by the defendants. At around the same time, plaintiff Crawley proceeded towards the bedroom door. Defendant SWAT Officers John Doe 1-10 and/or defendants Police Officers John Doe 1-10 pointed a gun at her and one of the officers stated, ‘female coming down.”
The suit adds that as plaintiff Tonya Crawley continued to make her way downstairs, she asked the defendants what was going on and was told to “shut the fuck up and keep walking”, and was then also told to “sit down and that the detective would explain everything.”
“A Caucasian male detective, believed to be Detective Bova, then came into the plaintiff’s home without producing a warrant and put a photo in plaintiff’s faces asking whether they knew the person in the photograph. Plaintiff Crawley told the detective that she did not know the person in the photograph and that this person (who was later identified as Tyseem Cave) had moved from the property five years prior to her plaintiff Miller moving in. The plaintiffs’ neighbors also told the detective that the person they were looking for did not live there anymore. At all relevant times, Detective Bova, Detective John Doe, Detective Jane Doe, Police Officers John Doe 1-10, and SWAT Officers John Doe 1-10, did not produce a warrant to the plaintiffs,” the suit states.
“At all relevant times, plaintiffs were peaceable and cooperated with defendants, Detective Bova, Detective John Doe, Detective Jane Doe, Police Officers John Doe 1-10, and SWAT Officers John Doe 1-10, who interacted with the plaintiffs in a threatening, violent, and aggressive manner causing the plaintiffs to suffer intense fear and anxiety, did not take the plaintiffs into the police station, had the duty to describe with particularity the places to be searched, to reasonably investigate to ensure that the person they sought to arrest resided at that location, and, furthermore, check to see if the person they sought to arrest was in fact inside the home.”
The suit continued that the City and Police Department defendants further “failed to adequately train police officers, detectives and SWAT Team Officers under their direction and control…regarding the requirements of the Fourth Amendment” and “failed to adequately discipline police officers, detectives, and SWAT Team under their direction and control…for violating the Fourth Amendment, and more specifically, for violating the Fourth Amendment in the ways alleged in this complaint.”
“As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned acts and failures to act of defendants, plaintiff Miller suffered the following harms: Anxiety disorder and depression. As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned acts and failures to act of defendants, plaintiff Crawley suffered the following harms: Chronic major depression disorder and anxiety,” the suit says.
For counts of violating 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution through illegal entry, search and seizure, excessive force, bystander/supervisory liability and violating Monell, the plaintiffs are seeking, jointly and severally, compensatory and punitive damages in an amount sufficient to fully and adequately compensate the plaintiffs, punish and deter the defendants and others similarly-situated to the defendants, plus interest, costs, attorney’s fees, and all other appropriate relief.
The plaintiffs are represented by Alan E. Denenberg of Abramson & Denenberg, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-04762
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com