Edward and Audrey Cramer

Attorneys for a local police department and an insurance company are trying to get a lawsuit filed by a Buffalo Township couple dismissed, after the couple alleges that police acted on a false tip from an insurance adjuster that they were growing marijuana — which turned out to be hibiscus.

The lawsuit, filed by Edward and Audrey Cramer, aged 69 and 66, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Two filings, on Jan. 8 and 11, are attempting to have the lawsuit dismissed on legal grounds.

Attorneys representing the Buffalo Township police officers, in an answer to the complaint filed Jan. 11, denied many of the allegations.

The response states that the officers' “actions (were) lawful, justified and/or privileged,” “reasonable and warranted under the circumstances,” “conducted in accordance with and pursuant to a lawful search warrant” and “without the intent to violate plaintiffs civil rights.”

According to the original lawsuit, township police obtained a search warrant based on the photographs taken by insurance agent Jonathan Yeamans, and after arriving at the home, roughly handcuffed Audrey Cramer and led her outside in her underwear and bare feet although she asked if she could put on a nearby pair of jeans and sandals in the house.

The lawsuit claims that Audrey Cramer was then held in the back of a hot police car for 4½ hours with her hands tightly cuffed behind her back. When her husband arrived 30 minutes after police, he had guns pointed at him and was also cuffed and placed into the back of another cruiser, the lawsuit claims.

The response denies that officers ever treated the Cramers in a forceful manner, and denies placing either under arrest, though they were held in custody and handcuffed.

“At the time of the search pursuant to a lawful search warrant, the officers had insufficient knowledge to determine whether there was an immediate threat to their safety posed by the plaintiffs,” the response states.

It also denies that the Cramers were held in the back of a hot police car for several hours, saying that they were detained for under an hour in the vehicle and later allowed back inside the home while police conducted the search.

For more about this story, read Tuesday's Butler Eagle.