Uniontown man sues members of state police
A Uniontown man filed suit against three members of the state police, claiming that, because of his race, he was beaten so badly that he passed out. Binny Behal, who is of Indian decent, indicated in a federal lawsuit filed by Pittsburgh attorney Joel S. Sansone that he was pulled over in Washington on Oct. 24, 2004, and failed field sobriety tests, so he was taken to the state police barracks by troopers Thomas Shuster and Eric Fisher. Both were troopers from the Washington County barracks, according to the suit, filed Monday.
At the barracks, the suit alleged that Cpl. Louis Reda asked Behal, 24 at the time, to take three additional breath tests to determine his blood-alcohol level. Sansone alleged that Reda started to verbally accost Behal, and then “moved quickly around his desk and struck the plaintiff in the face. The plaintiff was seated and handcuffed at this time.”
Behal was “knocked off his chair by Reda and all of the individual defendants began to assault the plaintiff. As (Behal) was assaulted with blows to his head, face and back by the individual defendants, and each of them, he repeatedly asked the officers to stop hitting him,” Sansone wrote.
The suit indicated Behal was “handcuffed and offering no resistance whatsoever.”
When the alleged beating was done, the suit alleged that Reda asked Behal to try the breath test again, but Behal lost conscious “as a result of the assault.”
Sansone alleged that Behal’s injuries “were so severe that he required immediate medical treatment, and was transported to the Uniontown Hospital emergency room, where he was treated for a concussion.”
As a result of the alleged abuse, Behal now is unable to work because of back problems and blurred vision and has to seek recurring medical treatment, claimed Sansone. The incident has also allegedly caused Behal “great fear and apprehension of law enforcement personnel,” the suit claimed.
Sansone suggested that the reason for the abuse was Behal’s ethnic background. While Behal is a citizen of the United States, his parents were both from India, Sansone stated in the suit.
The suit names Reda, Shuster, Fisher and officials identified only as John Doe and Richard Roe. Doe and Roe are “unknown in name and number but are believed to be officers working for the Pennsylvania State Police,” Sansone indicated.
The suit asks for damages in excess of $75,000.