The Martin Firm - selected case information

LEDGER-ENQUIRER

LOCAL

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Lawsuit ends in police officer's favor

Jury rejects man's claim that his car was illegally searched

By Jim Houston Staff Writer

Columbus Police Sgt. Larry Parker stood to be the big loser Wednesday, if a U.S. District Court jury believed he and other Tactical Squad officers illegally arrested Ronnie Goods and searched his car.

With the city of Columbus dismissed from the suit, Parker's was the only pocketbook jurors could tap if they found for Goods in the 4-year-old civil case.

But the eight women and four men rejected Goods' claims, returning a verdict for the 15-year veteran officer.

Goods contended that Parker and four or five other officers of the Tactical Squad confronted him Jan. 4, 1997, after they saw him back his car off Victory Drive onto the emergency lane. When officers asked for permission to search his car, Goods refused. The officers arrested him anyway and searched his car, Goods testified. When no illegal items were found, he was released with a warning ticket for improper backing.

Parker and other officers testified they didn't search Goods' car, only detained him on a traffic stop and gave him the warning citation after

observing him backing his car along Victory Drive.

Jurors heard another witness corroborate Goods' testimony that police searched his car, but the witness had not come forward during the police investigation of Goods' complaint.

Attorney David Grindle urged jurors to stop the "Jump Out Boys" of the Tactical Squad from future illegal searches with a verdict for Goods. He said the unit acts like "a gang of thugs out there, doing whatever they want to do" and preying on society's less fortunate.

"If you don't look right, they stop you, they search you, and they take you down," Grindle said. "They need to be stopped. They need to follow the law just like you, I or anybody else."

Frank Martin, who represented Parker along with Assistant City Attorney Clifton Fay, said the officers are not "thugs." They're police officers who saw a traffic violation, stopped the man and gave him a break by giving him a warning ticket - then got slapped with a lawsuit.

"(Goods) wants you to write a check out and let him cash it for a lot of money," Martin told the jury. "What he needs is a reality check ... and to tune in to the real world."

The jury deliberated about an hour and 45 minutes.