Family Sues Police After Arrest of 14-Year-Old With Fake Gun

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Family Sues Police After Arrest of 14-Year-Old With Fake Gun


The Stamford Advocate via YellowBrix

March 02, 2010

STAMFORD — Two city police officers are accused in a lawsuit of wrongfully arresting a 14-year-old boy during an incident two years ago in which police said the teenager was playing with fake guns.

The lawsuit, filed last month in state Superior Court in Stamford, alleges that Stamford police officers David Sileo and Edward Davis wrongfully arrested the boy in November 2008, charging him with breach of peace and carrying a facsimile firearm. The complaint argues that the teenager committed no crime and that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest him.

The boy’s family is suing the city and Police Department for more than $15,000.

Court documents accuse the police of violating the fourth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution when they responded to a Lindstrom Road home where Blair Cassell, the 14-year-old named in the lawsuit, and friends were shooting Airsoft guns at soda cans Nov. 11, 2008. Those amendments establish the foundations for probable cause and due process.

It is unclear from court records how police were summoned to the home, but according to the complaint, they responded with several police cruisers and surrounded the home with weapons drawn. The lawsuit claims police officers told the family a caller reported seeing an armed man wearing camouflaged shorts and carrying a rifle on Lindstrom Road. The city has yet to file an answer to the complaint.

The Airsoft guns, which according to the complaint had orange tips covering the muzzles, were left on the house’s porch, and Cassell and his friends were inside when police arrived. The lawsuit says the officers forced the unarmed youths to crawl toward police and then arrested them after discovering the Airsoft guns were “toys.” It also accuses the officers of failing to read them their Miranda rights and being verbally abusive toward the teen’s parents.

Steve Duke, a professor at Yale Law School in New Haven, said many unknown factors have a bearing on establishing probable cause in the case. Neighbors may have complained of people shooting guns, or the teens themselves may have admitted to police that they owned and had possessed the guns.

“There are endless possibilities that could strengthen or weaken the case of either side,” Duke said. “One can hardly know the truth based upon allegations in a complaint.”

The lawsuit also claims one of the officers libeled the 14-year-old by sending his high school a note that said the youth was charged with felony offenses, causing him to be suspended for 10 days. His charges were misdemeanors, not felonies. Both the criminal charges and note to the high school, called a student felony referral, were eventually withdrawn, the lawsuit says.

Stamford police Chief Robert Nivakoff said he could not comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, but he said he believes the department would prevail in the lawsuit.

Officials from the city’s legal department did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on the lawsuit. The family involved in the suit referred questions to their attorney, Toby Schaffer, of Shapiro & Siegel in Stamford, but Schaffer was on leave and not available for comment.