Thomas MacMIllan Photo
Nearly three years after a top New Haven cop illegally had him arrested for filming police in action, Luis Luna is suing the city.
It’s one of two lawsuits his attorneys plan to file, both featuring cops, cameras, and internal affairs probes that found supervising officers at fault.
Luna (pictured) announced his lawsuit Wednesday afternoon on the steps of the federal courthouse on Church Street, the latest step in a saga that led to the rebuke of an assistant chief, a new police policy, and statewide debate on citizens’ rights.
With the help of attorneys Diane Polan and Max Simmons, Luna is suing the city, the police department, former Police Chief Frank Limon, former Assistant Police Chief Ariel Melendez and other cops. Luna claims the cops falsely arrested him, illegally seized his property, and violated his First Amendment rights when they arrested him and confiscated his iPhone on Sept. 25, 2010, a story first reported by the Independent.
Attorney Polan announced that she’s also planning to sue the city on behalf of Jennifer Gondola, a woman who, like Luna, was arrested while filming cops. In both cases, internal police probes found cops at fault.
Gondola was arrested while capturing footage that drew the attention of the FBI, showing a man’s neck being stepped on by police during an arrest. The case against Gondola was dismissed. The sergeant who arrested her and stepped on the man’s neck was suspended for 15 days following an internal affairs probe.
Asked Tuesday afternoon about Luna’s suit, city Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden responded: “The city will review the lawsuit and respond accordingly at the appropriate time.”
On the steps of the federal courthouse, Polan (pictured with Luna and attorney Simmons) said she’s helping Luna sue the city because New Haven cops “believe they have the right to stop people from filming them.”
“We have to pay attention to this,” said Luna, a 29-year-old medical interpreter who lives in Wallingford. He said the case has “big repercussions not only in New Haven but on a national level.”
Polan noted that Melendez, who retired from the force with several complaints pending against him, collects a pension of over $120,000 per year.
Polan said Luna is asking for punitive damages of $500,000, plus a declaratory judgment that it is unlawful to arrest people filming cops. The New Haven police department is not training its cops to follow the law, Polan said.
“We have the right as citizens to record police because they are public servants,” Luna said.
Sept. 25, 2010
Early in the morning of Sept. 25, 2010, Luna was riding his bike on Crown Street when he came across some cops arresting three people near the corner of College Street. Luna pulled out his iPhone and began filming the action.
It is not illegal to record police action in public places, as long as the photographer does not interfere with cops.
Assistant Chief Melendez (at left in photo, with Chief Limon) approached him, asked what he was doing, and then grabbed his phone, Luna later recalled. Melendez ordered Luna arrested. Melendez then ordered an officer to erase the videos on Luna’s phones, according to a subsequent internal affairs investigation. Melendez subsequently retired from the force.
NHPD Photo
Luna spent the rest of the night in jail. When he got his phone back in the morning, two videos had been erased, and one photo (pictured) had been added.
The Internal Affairs investigation found that Melendez had trampled Luna’s rights; it reads like a brief against the police department. The case against Luna was eventually dropped.
The police department subsequently issued a new policy for officers to follow to ensure that they don’t violate the rights of citizen photographers. Read about that here; click on the video to watch it being unveiled.
Luna’s arrest came during a crackdown on the city’s nightclub district, at a time when police were also facing a number of complaints about threats, violence and illegally preventing people from photographing or filming them.
Luna’s case led to state Sen. Martin Looney to introduce legislation explicitly protecting people who photograph cops. He failed to get the bill passed, but has vowed to keep working on it.
So, what exactly are his damages and why is he suing this great city? So, the cops were wrong and as a result he spent a night in jail. Not a pleasant experience but not a major ordeal. I can't imagine that the suit is worth much.