Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Alleging violation of his civil rights, an Angola man has filed a lawsuit against local law enforcement in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana at Fort Wayne.
Charles W. Adams Jr., formerly of Warsaw, claims he was held in the Kosciusko County Jail for six days without being arraigned. As a result, Adams alleges, he was "deprived of due process of law, subject to unlawful detainment, illegal arrest, illegal search and seizure, that he was subject to excessive force during the course of an arrest."
The civil rights lawsuit is based on Adams' June 3, 1998, arrest in which he was initially charged with battery against his then-wife, Angela Frye Adams. He was officially charged June 8, 1998, with criminal deviate conduct, criminal confinement and aggravated battery, charges for which he will be tried during a three-day jury trial beginning Monday in Kosciusko Superior Court I.
The lawsuit names as defendants Paul Schmitt, Kip Shuter, Mike Cox and Chuck Hodges of the Warsaw Police Department, other unidentified law enforcement officers, former Kosciusko County Sheriff C. Alan Rovenstine and unnamed sheriff's deputies and Kosciusko County confinement officers.
The Warsaw officers named are accused of participating in Adams' warrantless arrest, warrantless search of his property and unlawful seizure as "the officers used excessive force in the arrest, seizure, and detention" of Adams.
Rovenstine is being sued in his official capacity for permitting pretrial detainees to be incarcerated without ever being given their constitutional right to a timely initial or probable cause hearing. He and his deputies are named for detaining Adams without arraignment until June 9, 1998.
The unnamed county officers are named for not permitting Adams to go before a judge within 48 hours, as required by law.
All of this, according to Adams' lawsuit, violated his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights.
Third-shift officers first went to the Adams residence after a 900-number operator called Warsaw police because she reportedly heard Mrs. Adams screaming for help in the background of a call Adams allegedly placed to her. Adams reportedly convinced police at that time that everything was OK inside the residence and they left. Mrs. Adams later "escaped" from her then-husband and went to Kosciusko Community Hospital for treatment of injuries reportedly inflicted by Adams through domestic violence.
Schmitt gathered information from Mrs. Adams at the hospital and then went to the residence to arrest Adams.
Indiana law allows for defendants to be held for a maximum of 72 hours without being charged. An initial hearing, or arraignment, must then take place within 48 hours.
Adams is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees and court costs. He also wants a declaratory judgment prohibiting the sheriff from implementing an illegal policy with respect to pretrial detainees and their unlawful incarceration and is requesting a trial by jury in this matter.
Chris Myers and Associates of Fort Wayne is Adams' legal representation.
