Edward and Audrey Cramer have filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Township after their home was raided when hibiscus plants were mistaken for marijuana plants.

BUFFALO TWP — A minister's senior citizen wife doing her embroidery was handcuffed and hauled outside in her underwear by Buffalo Township police, who were looking for marijuana plants that turned out to be hibiscus, according to a lawsuit filed in Butler County Court on Thursday.

Attorney Al Lindsay is representing Edward and Audrey Cramer, aged 69 and 66, who said at a news conference on Thursday that they are not the type to sue, but do not want anyone else to experience the harrowing scenario they say occurred on Oct. 7 at their township home.

According to the lawsuit, a large tree fell on the Cramers' home and a claim was submitted to Nationwide Insurance, the couple's homeowners insurance agency.

While conducting his damage assessment, Nationwide insurance agent Jonathan Yeamans asked Edward Cramer what was inside of a nearby temporary shed. After Cramer left to run errands, the suit says Yeamans “reentered the property and took photographs of the flowering hibiscus plants in the Cramers' back yard.”

Yeamans then sent the photos of what he thought were marijuana plants to the Freeport police, who forwarded them to the Buffalo Township police.

According to the suit, township police attained a search warrant, 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 suit claims that Cramer explained to police that the plants they were seeking were flowering hibiscus, which vaguely resemble marijuana, but was told by police that her husband had lied to her about raising hibiscus and was actually raising marijuana.

The suit said Cramer, age 66, sat in the back of a hot police car for 4.5 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 suit says.

Buffalo police officers then ransacked the house looking for marijuana, causing various damage to the home's interior and causing emotional stress to the Cramers, the suit says.

Audrey Cramer, Lindsay said, has an existing shoulder injury and the long stint in the police car caused undue pain.With tears in her eyes, Cramer said she now understands those who say they have been abused by police, a group the couple once supported.“I'll never trust a police officer again,” said Cramer, who is having sleep difficulties, is afraid to be home alone and purchased a security system.Edward Cramer, an ordained minister who has never even seen a marijuana plant, said he has been growing the kenaf variety of hibiscus since first observing the plant 48 years ago at the couple's first home in Brackenridge, Allegheny County.He was incredulous on Thursday that the Buffalo Township police, two of whom claimed at the scene to be experts in marijuana identification, could not tell the difference between hibiscus and marijuana.“I would have expected the police to be trained and have some degree of education,” Cramer said.The police eventually figured out the plants at the home were not marijuana and released the Cramers.In addition, the suit claims the Cramers received notification later in October from Nationwide Insurance saying that marijuana was found on the property, “and if they failed to remove the nonexistent marijuana plants, Nationwide would cancel their insurance policy.”Edward Cramer took a proactive approach in that circumstance.“I canceled the policy,” he said on Thursday.The complaint filed in county court by the Cramers alleges insurance bad faith, defamation, invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Nationwide and Yeamans.The allegations against Buffalo Township Police Sgt. Scott Hess include invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest and excessive force.Buffalo Township faces civil rights violations by the police department.The suit seeks unspecified monetary damage.The Cramers said neither the police department nor Nationwide has apologized for the incident.Neither the Buffalo Township solicitor nor the police department's officer-in-charge could be reached on Thursday for comment regarding the suit or whether any officers would be disciplined.Timothy Derringer, who is named in the lawsuit, is the officer-in-charge at the Buffalo Township police.

Edward and Audrey Cramer filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Township after their home, at 2169 Garden Way, was mistakenly raided by police on Oct. 7.