The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block a lawsuit that accuses a Pennsylvania officer of injuring a man during an arrest with tight handcuffs.
Justices had been asked to review the 2000 arrest of an electrical engineer for trespassing on a frozen pond owned by an apartment complex where his girlfriend lived outside Philadelphia. Michael Kopec and the girlfriend, whom he has since married, were “frolicking on the ice” at the time, according to the court record.
Kopec claims he suffered permanent nerve damage in one wrist from the handcuffs used by Whitemarsh police officer Tyrone Tate. The officer had ignored the man’s requests to loosen the handcuffs.
A divided panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that police officers should not be immune from lawsuits if they use handcuffs to hurt people. The Supreme Court refused to disturb that decision.
The case is Tate v. Kopec, 04-112.
Also Monday, the court declined to reinstate a malpractice lawsuit accusing a lawyer of incompetence in representing an Iraqi immigrant in a sex offense case in Pennsylvania.
Majeed Altamimi pleaded guilty to indecent assault and corruption of a minor in 1995, but claims he knew no English and was unable to communicate that physical injuries suffered during torture sessions in Iraq made it impossible for him to commit the crimes.
He won an appeal and filed a malpractice lawsuit against his former defense lawyer, Daniel J. Brabender Jr. A lower court ruled the suit was filed too late.
The case is Altamimi v. Brabender, 04-265.