Annapolis man suing the city for $2.25M

A city man is suing Annapolis and two individual police officers he claims assaulted and wrongfully arrested him in 2006.

Lt. Brian Della, an Annapolis Police Department spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit, and calls to the city attorney were not returned yesterday.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Coates is asking for $2.25 million in compensatory and punitive damages, plus lawyer's fees.

The case is scheduled for a motions hearing on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2007, states that the officers stopped Mr. Coates at 9 p.m. June 10, 2006, as he was driving a rented Volkswagon Beetle.

Police were under the impression that Mr. Coates had a pending warrant for his arrest, the lawsuit states. Mr. Coates told them he did not have any warrants, but the officers physically removed him from the car. Officer Schreiber pulled his legs out of the car, and Officer Tucker pushed him from the opposite side of the vehicle, the lawsuit states.

The force caused injuries to Mr. Coates' back, right side and right shoulder, for which he was later treated at the hospital, according to hospital documents.

"They were just pulling me and pulling me," he said in an interview with The Capital yesterday. He said he was crying and continued to tell them that there were no warrants for his arrest.

The suit also alleges that the officers put Mr. Coates in shackles and handcuffs and took him into the police station without reading him his Miranda rights.

He also said he heard the city dispatcher tell the officers over the police scanner that there were no warrants as they continued with the arrest.

Mr. Coates wasn't intoxicated, incapacitated or a threat to himself or others at any time during the arrest, according to the lawsuit.

The civil suit includes claims of assault and battery, false arrest and false imprisonment.

Mr. Coates said yesterday the city has offered him a $2,500 settlement but that he doesn't plan to take it.

"It seems to me like they're trying to bribe me," he said yesterday. "I feel as though they were letting them get away with it."

Since this happened, he has trouble trusting police and has been living with relatives outside Annapolis.

"I don't trust none of them," he said.

Mr. Coates' lawyer, Linda T. Cox, declined to comment on the lawsuit.