Desertdog
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We need many more of these lawsuits in places where they may be won.
Man’s arrest on gun charge prompts lawsuit
By SONYA KIMBRELL
Advocate staff writer
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/police/3100841.html?showAll=y
Story originally published in The Advocate
A Baton Rouge man has filed a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Gonzales Police Department, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office and five Gonzales police officers.
In the lawsuit, Mark Edward Marchiafava claims he was the victim of false arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery and unlawful seizure of property.
Marchiafava said Friday afternoon that on Jan. 28 he was in the parking lot at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Gonzales and was wearing an unconcealed blue-steel .357-caliber Magnum in a holster on his right hip.
A Gonzales police officer asked Marchiafava why he was carrying a gun and asked for Marchiafava’s driver’s license. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges that the officer checked Marchiafava’s license for violations and returned it. Marchiafava claims that he left as a passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend along with his adult daughter and a child.
According to the lawsuit, as the vehicle Marchiafava was riding in approached the exit at La. 44, an unmarked Gonzales police unit and four marked police units forced the vehicle onto the median. Five officers surrounded the vehicle and at least one of the officers drew a weapon and aimed it at Marchiafava, the lawsuit says.
Marchiafava claims he was arrested and taken to the Gonzales police station where he was shackled to a wall.
He was booked into the Ascension Parish Prison in Donaldsonville on a count of illegal carrying of a weapon. He posted the $200 bail within a few hours and was released.
Marchiafava, in his lawsuit, claims his constitutional rights under the Second, Fourth and 14th amendments were violated.
Marchiafava said Friday he also carries a gun for protection. “If you ever need one (a gun), you don’t have time to run home or run to your car,” he said.
Gonzales Police Chief Bill Landry declined to comment Friday afternoon.
Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley was on vacation and Chief Deputy Tony Bacala would not comment Friday afternoon.
Ascension Parish deputies were not involved in Marchiafava’s arrest.
He said the Sheriff’s Office was included in the lawsuit because he was wrongfully imprisoned in the parish jail.
Man’s arrest on gun charge prompts lawsuit
By SONYA KIMBRELL
Advocate staff writer
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/police/3100841.html?showAll=y
Story originally published in The Advocate
A Baton Rouge man has filed a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Gonzales Police Department, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office and five Gonzales police officers.
In the lawsuit, Mark Edward Marchiafava claims he was the victim of false arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery and unlawful seizure of property.
Marchiafava said Friday afternoon that on Jan. 28 he was in the parking lot at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Gonzales and was wearing an unconcealed blue-steel .357-caliber Magnum in a holster on his right hip.
A Gonzales police officer asked Marchiafava why he was carrying a gun and asked for Marchiafava’s driver’s license. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges that the officer checked Marchiafava’s license for violations and returned it. Marchiafava claims that he left as a passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend along with his adult daughter and a child.
According to the lawsuit, as the vehicle Marchiafava was riding in approached the exit at La. 44, an unmarked Gonzales police unit and four marked police units forced the vehicle onto the median. Five officers surrounded the vehicle and at least one of the officers drew a weapon and aimed it at Marchiafava, the lawsuit says.
Marchiafava claims he was arrested and taken to the Gonzales police station where he was shackled to a wall.
He was booked into the Ascension Parish Prison in Donaldsonville on a count of illegal carrying of a weapon. He posted the $200 bail within a few hours and was released.
Marchiafava, in his lawsuit, claims his constitutional rights under the Second, Fourth and 14th amendments were violated.
Marchiafava said Friday he also carries a gun for protection. “If you ever need one (a gun), you don’t have time to run home or run to your car,” he said.
Gonzales Police Chief Bill Landry declined to comment Friday afternoon.
Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley was on vacation and Chief Deputy Tony Bacala would not comment Friday afternoon.
Ascension Parish deputies were not involved in Marchiafava’s arrest.
He said the Sheriff’s Office was included in the lawsuit because he was wrongfully imprisoned in the parish jail.