Easthampton man, alleging rough treatment, sues Northampton Police for $15M

By EMILY CUTTS

@ecutts_HG

Published: 05-02-2017 6:14 PM

NORTHAMPTON — An Easthampton man is suing the Northampton Police Department for $15 million, alleging that he was roughed up outside a bar in April 2014

Gregory S. Stevens claims he suffered numerous physical and mental injuries in the altercation, according to a complaint filed in Hampshire Superior Court on April 21.

Stevens is representing himself. He is seeking $5 million in lost wages and compensation and anticipates an additional $10 million in future lost wages.

In his complaint, Stevens alleges he suffered a re-torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), brain damage caused by asphyxiation, and heart palpitations.

The Northampton Police report of the incident tells a different story, saying the 34-year-old man, whose name has been redacted, declined medical attention for “a small scrape on both his right knee and forehead,” according to the report.

An alias listed on the report identifies the man as Gregory Stevens, whom police described as a 6-foot-tall white man with brown hair, brown eyes and slim build.

In the court filings, Stevens names two officers, an “Officer Demetrion and Francis Henderson of the Northampton Police Department.”

Nicholas Demetrion and Francis Henderson were on the city’s payroll in 2014, according to records. Police Chief Jody Kasper confirmed that the two officers named no longer work for the Northampton Police Department.

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Both officers are named in the police report.

Kasper said she was not prepared to make a statement when reached Monday afternoon and referred inquires to the mayor’s office. The city had not yet been served with the complaint Monday, according to the mayor’s office.

According to Stevens’ account, the incident began when he jumped onto a table in the former Hinge bar on Main Street in a moment of joy.

“So in fact I felt so amazing that and realizing I was only surrounded by familiar faces in my tables area of the Hinge, I regretfully jumped up onto the table we were sitting around. I said ‘I feel great!’ and hopped back down,” Stevens wrote.

Shortly after jumping on the table, Stevens wrote, he went to use the bathroom and when he came out a bouncer told him he had to leave.

Stevens wrote that as he was being escorted out a backdoor in a headlock he swore at the bouncer and told him he didn’t do anything wrong.

“Before I was done yelling the last sentence I was put into a chokehold headlock by someone from behind who then pulled me away from the door and face slammed me and my head back into the brick wall direct next to the door,” Stevens wrote.

He was able to free himself and ran away but realized shortly after that police were pursuing him, he wrote.

Police said they were called over to the Hinge by a doorman at McLadden’s Irish Pub. When Officer Demetrion arrived, he wrote, he saw the man “take a swing at one of the members of the group” but was unsuccessful. As the man started to walk backwards away from the group, Demetrion wrote that he grabbed him by the back of his sweatshirt and forced him up against a brick wall while identifying himself as an officer.

Stevens then alleges an officer put his boot on the back of his head, forcing his face into the ground, and officers placed their knees in the back of his abdomen. Stevens also alleges officers used an entire can of pepper spray on his hair.

Police said initially the man was compliant but then began to pull away from Demetrion before ultimately running about 30 feet away from officers before stopping. The man continued to struggle as officer attempted to put him in handcuffs, Demetrion wrote.

Demetrion wrote that he then gave the man a “one second burst of OC (pepper) spray.” He was then placed under arrest and taken to the police station.

Stevens concludes the handwritten three-page complaint saying the event set him so far back he “can’t barely describe the pain and suffering I’ve endured.”

At the time of the incident, the man was charged with misdemeanors of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettetnet.com.

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