Earquhart claims he was tasered without cause, sues city, 2 officers
A Uniontown man has sued Uniontown and two officers on the city’s police department, claiming that an officer tasered him without cause. In a suit filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, Morris Earquhart also alleged that officers Dennis Field and Ray Miller targeted him because he is black. Both Field and Miller are white.
The suit, filed by attorney Joel Sansone of Pittsburgh, alleged that on Dec. 1, 2006, a 911 call came from an 88 Lincoln St. home in the city, and the caller hung up. Police responded, and Earquhart’s wife, Laquita Fletcher told police that the call was placed in error, the suit stated.
Police allegedly insisted that they speak to Earquhart, and returned several minutes later with a warrant for his arrest that had been issued nearly one year earlier, according to the filing. Earquhart alleged in the suit that he tried to tell police that the warrant had been lifted by court ordered on Sept. 18, 2006.
As he tried to indicate where the court order was located in the home, Earquhart alleged that Field “withdrew his police-issued stun-gun/Taser and shot plaintiff with the weapon.”
Sansone indicated that Earquhart had threatened or resisted police.
As he was being electrocuted by the Taser, the suit alleged that Earquhart fell to the ground in convulsions and lost control of his bladder.
“Only after the plaintiff had fallen to the floor, lost consciousness and lost control of his bladder did defendant Field stop electrocuting him,” Sansone wrote.
Miller, the suit alleged, did nothing to stop his partner.
After Earquhart had been brought to the Uniontown police station, the suit alleged that police pulled out one of the Taser prongs out of his body, and then took him to the hospital to have the second removed.
Sansone named the city in the suit, claiming that the municipality failed to properly train its officers.
In addition to claiming that police targeted him because of his race, Earquhart also alleged counts of excessive use of force, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit asks for damages in excess of $75,000.