Federal appeals court rules in Elyria PD excessive force case

A federal appeals court has made several rulings in an ongoing federal lawsuit by an Elyria man against three Elyria police officers he said wrongfully arrested him and used excessive force during his arrest. U.S. Sixth District Appeals Senior Judge John Rogers and judges Chad Readler and Helene White ruled recently that Cody Jones' lawsuit against Elyria police officers Nicholas Chalkley and Anthony Weber may go forward on several matters of law. The judges ruled that a jury could find that Chalkley and Weber violated Jones' rights by frisking him without reasonable suspicion, arrested him without probable cause, used excessive force and then took part in a malicious prosecution. The appeals court cleared Officer Paige Mitchell, who arrived after the other officers had stopped Jones, of wrongful arrest under both federal and state law, but said she and her fellow officers could be found to have violated Jones' rights "by making false statements that influenced the decision to prosecute him, despite a lack of probable cause." "As discussed above, (a) jury could find that all three officers lied in ways that were material to the eventual decision to prosecute Jones, for the purpose of justifying their own prior actions," Readler wrote in the lead opinion. Not in dispute is that Chalkley and Weber responded on April 23, 2016, to a report of an intoxicated white man eating out of a dumpster behind a shopping plaza on East River Road. The officers claimed Jones, whom they saw speaking with two women who later corroborated his version of events, first tried to hide from police then "reluctantly complied" with their orders. The officers said they patted Jones down for weapons on the hood of a police cruiser. That turned into a scuffle as Jones resisted, tried to punch Chalkley and refused to be handcuffed before reaching for Chalkley's gun. The officers held Jones down, punched him in the arms and sides and Chalkley punched Jones in the face when Jones allegedly grabbed Chalkley's testicles, according to police. Mitchell then arrived and helped hold Jones' legs down as Weber used a Taser to stun Jones and take him into custody. An internal Elyria Police Department review of the incident determined the officers involved did not use excessive force. Jones' version of events was that he had complied with officers' commands but felt he was being detained for no reason, "so he looked over his left shoulder to speak with the two officers," according to federal court documents. "In response, the officers took Jones to the ground" and held him there. Jones reported trouble breathing, claimed he was punched and had a Taser used on him and almost lost consciousness, according to court documents. Jones was hospitalized for seven days after his arrest. Charged with a felony and two misdemeanors, he was acquitted on all charges after a five-day jury trial in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Jones sued the officers, Police Chief Duane Whitely and the city of Elyria in U.S. District Court, alleging excessive force, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Whitely and the city of Elyria were dismissed from the lawsuit by a federal judge, but Chalkley, Weber and Mitchell were denied qualified immunity from federal excessive force claims, state and federal wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution claims. Qualified immunity "shields government actors from civil liability for official acts that do not violate clearly established constitutional rights," according to the federal appeals court. Judge Rogers offered his own opinion that Mitchell was entitled to qualified immunity because Jones did not respond to her arguments on the topic. Judge White wrote that Mitchell is not entitled to qualified immunity on the excessive force claim because Mitchell "did not intervene to stop her colleagues' use of excessive force — instead, she aided it by holding Jones's legs down" and had arrived soon enough after Chalkley and Weber stopped Jones to see them use excessive force during a wrongful arrest. White also agreed with a lower federal court's ruling that Mitchell has no immunity from any state or federal wrongful arrest claims, according to her written opinion. The next hearing in the case, which is being heard by U.S. District Judge James Gwin and in which Jones seeks at least $100,000 in damages, is March 11, according to court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.