Judge rules against Masontown man
A federal judge ruled that a Masontown’s man conviction for drunken driving and resisting arrest bars him from claiming he’s innocent of the charges in a civil lawsuit he brought against state police. In a ruling handed down last week, Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose dismissed several claims filed by Frank T. Revak, 51, against Cpl. Brian Barnhart and Trooper Nathaniel Lieberum. The lawsuit relates to the charges he faced – and was convicted of – earlier this month in Fayette County Court. In the suit, Revak alleged that Barnhart and Lieberum assaulted him after they pulled him over in 2006, and then conspired to cover it up.
Revak’s attorney, Joel Sansone, argued that there was a videotape of the incident that was not preserved. Sansone indicated that because the tape was not kept, jurors could infer a conspiracy between Lieberum and Barnhart.
“I disagree,” Ambrose wrote. “There is simply no evidence to suggest an understanding or an agreement by defendants to destroy the tape or to ‘cover-up’ any of the acts of the (police). There is no evidence of any conversation about the tape. There is no policy that requires a recording be preserved.”
In a footnote of the ruling, Ambrose noted that Revak was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, resisting arrest and fleeing from police. That conviction stops him from claiming that those things did not occur, she said.
Ambrose dismissed most of the claims in the suit, but indicated that the policemen could be sued individually.
Attorneys for police had argued that whether they were sued officially or individually, that they were still acting within the scope of their employ with the state, so it doesn’t matter.
Ambrose said that logic is akin to “mixing apples with oranges.”
“Acting under (the) color of law does not mean that a defendant sued in his individual capacity is an agent of his employer,” she wrote.
During his criminal trial, Revak testified that one of the troopers pepper sprayed him on three occasions for no reason, and called an expert in his behalf to refute allegations that he was driving while intoxicated.
Revak refused to sign a waiver to allow police to perform a breath test.
Lieberum and Barnhart testified that Revak actively resisted their attempts to take him into custody, and fled from them when they tried to pull him over on Route 21. Revak did not stop until he pulled into his driveway.
He will be sentenced in that case later this week.