Incident

Incident Description

According to a United States District Court Decision and Order document that named Curtis Cunningham, Adam Harden, Migdalia Plaza, and Nelson Soto ad defendants, the following are facts alleged by the plaintiff. Two brothers were stopped at a motor vehicle checkpoint operated by the Rochester Police Department where police officers forced one brother out of the car, beat him, and handcuffed him. One officer then approached the other brother, held a bottle of pepper spray to his eye, and threatened to discharge it. After one brother was processed and then released, he was walking to his car, officers ran towards him, attacked him with pepper spray, handcuffed him, and placed him in a cell. Then a sheriff’s deputy pulled plaintiff’s hands through the bars of the cell and began beating them, telling plaintiff he would not stop until plaintiff cried out in pain.

Outcome

On July 1, 2014, the Court dismissed the Rochester Police Department and Monroe County as defendants. The Court agreed that, even accepting all of plaintiff’s allegations as true, he has nonetheless failed to produce evidence of a civil rights violation by any of the RPD defendants.