Arrestee Files Lawsuit Against Winona Lake Town, Police
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
A tort claim filed in August against the Town of Winona Lake, Winona Lake Police Department and Town Marshal Paul D. Schmitt has now become a lawsuit. As reported in the Times-Union Aug. 13, local attorney David Kolbe filed a tort claim in August on behalf of Abram Galvin, 26, Chicago, for $100,000 following a public intoxication arrest May 17 that occurred on private property. Now Kolbe and attorney Matthew Buehler have filed that claim as a lawsuit in Kosciusko Superior Court I under Judge Duane Huffer. The lawsuit seeks damages under the laws of Indiana and pursuant to the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution for violation of Galvin’s civil rights. It seeks a trial by jury. According to Kolbe in August, when there’s a tort claim against a government entity, the wronged party must serve notice by certified mail upon the entity within 180 days of the alleged act. The entity has 90 days to respond. If the entity or their insurance carrier denies the claim, a lawsuit then is filed. Kolbe was in court and unavailable for comment today. Winona Lake Town Attorney James Walmer declined to comment on the lawsuit this morning. According to the lawsuit filed by Galvin’s attorneys, on May 17 Galvin and several of his friends were at 306 15th St., Winona Lake. At approximately 7:45 a.m., Schmitt arrived at the residence in response to a call complaining about people outside the private residence. Schmitt ordered Galvin and his friends to go inside or face arrest. The plaintiff and his friends complied with Schmitt’s order and went inside. Shortly afterward, the lawsuit states that Galvin returned to the outdoors to collect his personal effects. “That at no time during the events contained herein, did plaintiff ever stray from the private property,” the lawsuit states. Schmitt then observed Galvin leaving the residence to retrieve his personal effects and then Schmitt arrested Galvin for public intoxication. Galvin was transported to the Kosciusko County Jail and charged with public intoxication. Galvin was held for 14 hours before posting a $300 cash bond. On July 25, the State of Indiana filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against Galvin. On July 26, the court granted Indiana’s motion to dismiss the charges. On Aug. 12 through his attorney, Galvin notified the defendants of his intention to file a claim against them. On Aug. 12, Schmitt declined to comment to the Times-Union on the tort claim. According to Schmitt’s narrative in the WLPD investigation report, at 7:48 a.m. May 17 central dispatch made contact with Schmitt regarding several males outside of the house at 306 15th St. The subjects had been there for some time drinking and singing. The complainant also observed one of the subjects urinating on the sidewalk next to the house. Schmitt was on Pierceton Road near the location when he responded in his unmarked police car and in full uniform. “When I arrived there were four to five males sitting and standing around the porch of the house ... All subjects appeared to be intoxicated and there were numerous Budweiser cans on a table on a porch,” Schmitt’s narrative states. “I asked whose house it was and one subject sitting at the table said it was his girlfriend’s rental but she was not home. I then asked who urinated on the sidewalk and several said it was not them.” Schmitt then told the group the party was over and they should enter the home and stay there until sober. Eventually, all the subjects moved inside the home. “I warned them if they came back out, they would be arrested for public intoxication,” the report states. Schmitt left the location and drove around the block to a point where he could observe the front of the house. Within three minutes, one of the subjects, identified as Galvin, came out the front door and walked around the porch. He eventually bent down behind a car that was parked in the driveway and Schmitt could not see what he was doing. Schmitt drove to the front of the house where he could see Galvin, who was looking inside a guitar case lying on the ground. “I told him to stand up and put his hands behind his back, that he was under arrest for public intoxication. When I had spoken to him prior to this, he was very slow and deliberate in his speech, slurring his words when he talked. Subject was unsteady on his feet and swayed when he walked. He had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath,” Schmitt stated in the report. Galvin was handcuffed, searched and placed in the back seat of Schmitt’s car, and then transported to the Kosciusko County Jail and booked with bond set at $300. He was charged with public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor. In a telephone interview in August, Kolbe said Galvin was not given a breathalyzer test, but that’s very common with public intoxication arrests. The standard of proof for public intoxication is milder than that for driving under the influence. The definition of public intoxication is broad so a breath test is not required. When asked why the State dropped the charges, Kolbe stated he “advocated the charges should be dropped because the facts did not support a criminal case.” The lawsuit states that Schmitt “without warrant or probable cause and acting with malicious intent did wrongfully and unlawfully arrest (Galvin) and, acting contrary to law, with force and arms, arrested (Galvin) and compelled (Galvin) to go from the residence to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and led him in the streets of the Town of Winona Lake handcuffed in the presence of persons.” At the KCSD, Schmitt did “maliciously, wrongfully, and unlawfully, and without any just or probable cause, have (Galvin) entered and charged with the crime of public intoxication ... without giving him an opportunity to establish his innocence of the crime of which he was accused for approximately 14 hours,” the lawsuit states. As a result of Schmitt’s “false arrest and false imprisonment of (Galvin), (Galvin) was injured both bodily and mentally and was subjected to humiliation, embarrassment and scorn among those who knew him and his family” in Kosciusko County and was obliged to and did “expend sums of money for counsel to procure his discharge from arrest, all to his damage.”
