Published: May 24, 2007 03:49 pm      

City is dropped from suit involving former officer's conviction

By Jim Goodson

editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com



TYLER – Jacksonville city officials are relieved but not surprised the city and its police department are no longer part of a lawsuit brought by a victim of former JPD officer Larry Pugh.

“I’m gratified the courts recognized the Jacksonville Police Department acted swiftly, and correctly when it received reports of wrongdoing by this police officer,” Jacksonville Police Chief Reece Daniel said Tuesday.

Daniel replaced Mark Johnson, who resigned in May 2006. Johnson was also a defendant in the suit brought by a woman who said Pugh raped her after offering her a ride home.

Johnson was also dropped from the suit by U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider, who also released the police department from any liabilities in the civil suit brought by the woman, whose identity is being withheld due to the nature of the crime.

Pugh, 34, pleaded guilty to sexual assault in a criminal trial related to the case and for retaliating against her after she reported the crime. He is still a defendant in the civil case.

The woman included the city and Johnson in the lawsuit against Pugh, claiming they failed to supervise Pugh, for hiring and retaining him and for their toleration of his misconduct.

The court found the plaintiff's evidence insufficient to establish deliberate indifference, "a stringent standard of fault requiring proof that a municipal actor disregarded a known or obvious consequence of his action."

The opinion states the official must be aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm exists and must demonstrate a pattern of similar incidents in which citizens are injured.

The plaintiff claimed several incidents resulting in excessive force claims against Pugh were sufficient to prove deliberate indifference. No sexual assault allegations were involved in those allegations.

“In addition to these two allegations of excessive force, there is evidence that Officer Pugh may have engaged in other instances of sexual misconduct with other individuals while on duty ... the plaintiff’s evidence indicates that the city of Jacksonville and former Police Chief Johnson were not made aware of any incidents of sexual misconduct involving Pugh until June of 2005, at least two months after Pugh is alleged to have raped plaintiff," Schneider wrote.

The evidence would not support a finding that the defendants deliberately ignored a risk Pugh might engage in sexual misconduct while on duty, the opinion stated.

The city still faces additional lawsuits related to Pugh. Two suits are still active filed by eight woman who say they were sexually assaulted by the former officer.

In the lawsuits, women claim Pugh forced them to have sex with him at their homes, abandoned apartments and a cemetery. They claim he threatened to arrest them if they did not comply with his demands.

Pugh has also involved the city and the police department in lawsuits related to what has been referred to as the “Tomato Bowl fights.”

On May 7, Larry Lacey, who filed an excessive force lawsuit against Pugh, filed a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice. The motion, which states Lacey “no longer desires to prosecute the matter against defendants,” was granted. Lacey claimed he was “assaulted, subjected to grossly excessive force and subjected to an unlawful, warrantless arrest” in October 2005.

In April, Larry and Leslie Hinton, who claimed excessive force was used against them by Pugh in 2004, announced a settlement in the case. The lawsuit, which was ordered dismissed with prejudice on May 11, claimed Pugh and other officers attacked and beat him and arrested his wife without reason after a Jacksonville High homecoming game at the Tomato Bowl.