Excessive force lawsuit settled for $75K
A lawsuit filed against Lancaster Township and its former police chief has been resolved, with the township's insurance company paying $75,000 to a man who claimed excessive force was used in an October 2016 arrest.
The agreement was reached through mediation on March 19, and was executed on March 28, according to court records.
Following a Right-to-Know request by the Butler Eagle, Lancaster Township released the terms of the agreement, stating that the lawsuit will now be dismissed.
In a lawsuit Bowers filed in federal court last November, he accused former Lancaster Township Police Chief David Sitler of using excessive force during Bowers' arrest, falsely arresting and imprisoning him, prosecuting him without probable cause and malicious prosecution on Oct. 6, 2016, following an incident at Bowers' home on Scott Ridge Road, Harmony.
The lawsuit also alleged the township failed to properly train, supervise and discipline Sitler, which resulted in the assault and battery and false imprisonment of Bowers after police were called to his home.
The township and Sitler denied the allegations, stating that Bowers was already placed in handcuffs when Sitler arrived at the location, Bowers was not in the vehicle for an hour, Sitler did not ignore pleas to loosen the cuffs and that “the video footage of the interaction between defendant and plaintiff speaks for itself.”
Sitler's response acknowledged that Bowers was taken to the hospital, but for a psychiatric evaluation, not for injuries.
Bowers was then charged with felony aggravated assault of an officer, after Sitler asserted in a criminal complaint that Bowers wrapped his legs around him and grabbed him by the vest — something Bowers' lawsuit points out is impossible while in handcuffs.
“In a lot of these cases the officer remains employed while these things are investigated, and in this case he was put on administrative leave shortly after and after an investigation he was terminated,” Breen said in a phone interview Monday. “A lot of these cases are very highly contested.”
Read the full story and both Bowers and his attorney's comments in
