Landlord receives $50,000 after deputy uses taser to falsely arrest

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) — A jury awarded $50,000 to a Northern Virginia landlord. He unjustly arrested him after a complaint from a tenant.

Matthew Suter, 57, of The Plains, Virginia, said in November 2018 that his 19th-century farmhouse tenant had violated a protection order she had obtained the day before. Arrested at home after allegations.

Before the trial began in federal court on Tuesday, a judge ruled that the three Fauquier County sheriff's deputies who arrested Suter violated his constitutional rights.

Tennant alleged that Souter violated the protection order by suspending the utility, which Souter denied. But even with his power off, Judge T.S. It said it would not be considered a violation to suspend utilities.

As a result, this week's jury trial will focus solely on the question of what damages, if any, should be awarded to Souter. A

jury decided late Thursday to award compensatory damages totaling $50,000 and not to award punitive damages.

The police insisted that they should be rendered harmless. They said it was the magistrate who actually issued the arrest warrant, albeit at the request of one of his agents. And they said they were entitled to a limited liability indemnity that protects law enforcement officers from broad legal liability.

Ellis, however, ruled that, as a matter of law, his agent had violated Suter's rights, stating that "the waiver was not due to a misstep."

"If you have a lot of power, you have to be careful how you wield it," Ellis told his lawyer at the beginning of the trial before the jury. rice field. "It was a mistake no law enforcement officer should have made."

Ellis also noted that individuals are within their right to resist unlawful arrest, based on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. Any force used to carry out a false arrest is subject to the definition of excessive force. The system also included a 2015 misdemeanor conviction for brandishing a firearm. , there was an alert warning lawmakers to take backups if called to Suter's home.

One of his lieutenants, Andrew McCauley, testified that he used a taser on Suter three times.

Mr. Suter said his arrest and taser attack was the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced in his life. He said the deputies beat and mistreated him for about seven minutes, and jurors saw pictures of his bloodied face after his arrest. They also said they gave him no warning when they came to arrest him. He went out and testified that he gave the lawmakers a friendly greeting. He said Macauley answered questions about the electricity in his home and after grabbing Suter's arm, he told him Suter was under arrest.

In Macquarie's own testimony, he agreed that that was what happened, but said that after placing his hand on Suter, he immediately told him he was under arrest.

Suter said that had the officers explained that he was being arrested, he would never have resisted, even though he knew he had done nothing wrong. }

"I woke up sweating," Suter told the jury. "I am now afraid of the police. I have lost respect for them because of this."