Plaintiff Terrence Thomas, testifying in Springfield Ma. police brutality suit,
says officers yanked down his pants in middle of busy street
A plaintiff in a police brutality case took the witness stand in U.S.
District Court on Wednesday morning, telling jurors police swarmed his car,
yanked down his pants in the middle of a busy street, and beat him during a
2007 arrest.
Terrence Thomas, 38, of Springfield, is the second and final witness in his
case against the city and four police officers he is suing in connection with
the incident. Lawyers for the city have said Thomas suffered a concussion and
lacerations to his face during a scuffle prompted by Thomas, whom an informant
said was carrying drugs as he left the Blue Eagle restaurant and bar with a
friend on May 18, 2007.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Alan J. Black suggested in his complaint and through his
client’s testimony that police planted cocaine and marijuana on Thomas after
coming up empty during three searches on the street and at the police station.
Thomas was acquitted of drug trafficking during a 2008 criminal trial in
Hampden Superior Court. However, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor has
barred the defense verdict from testimony, leaving lawyers to refer to
transcripts of “a prior proceeding” in the federal trial.
Thomas is suing for unspecified monetary damages and lawyer’s fees,
alleging civil rights violations, assault and battery, negligent hiring and
other infractions by city police and their supervisors. Thomas is black while
the police standing trial are white. Of 10 officers originally named in the
lawsuit, the four remaining are Sgt. Steven Kent and officers John Wadlegger,
Gregg A. Bigda and Robert Patruno. Complaints against six others were dismissed
before trial.
During more than two hours of testimony, Thomas portrayed Wadlegger as the
primary aggressor in the clutch of officers who allegedly manhandled and
mistreated him during the arrest. However, Kevin B. Coyle, a lawyer for the
police union, suggested Thomas tailored his story to target Wadlegger after the
fact. Coyle also referred to Thomas’ pants “falling down”during the arrest as
he quizzed the plaintiff.
Referring to the “prior proceeding,” Coyle on cross-examination noted that
Wadlegger testified just before Thomas in the 2008 criminal trial yet Thomas
didn’t name Wadlegger specifically and simply identified his alleged attacker
as “an officer.” Coyle also
On direct testimony, Thomas told jurors that police roughly searched him on
the street, in a holding area at the police station and when they stripped him
naked in a holding cell.
“(Wadlegger) started asking me all these questions about drugs … He was
yelling. Every time I responded saying I didn’t know what he was talking about,
I got struck,” Thomas testified, later adding that Wadlegger grabbed him in a
choke-hold. “I was dangling. I couldn’t even breathe … I was kicking and I was
swinging.”
Thomas said that when Wadlegger left the room with his clothes and
returned, he had drugs clenched in his fist and told Thomas he was going to
jail for 10 years.
“Do you know where those drugs came from?” Black asked.
“No, I don’t,” Thomas responded.
The trial is expected to continue through the end of the week or into the
beginning of next week.