9/4/16 Dunwoody Reporter
A Dunwoody Police officer is facing
a fourth lawsuit alleging an unlawful search and arrest months after the city
settled three similar suits against him.
Officer Dale Laskowski has been sued
in federal court and accused of “unlawful seizure, detention and search” of
Colton Laidlaw, who was 17 at the time, during a traffic stop in 2014.
The city settled three other search-related
lawsuits against Laskowski in March for a total of $135,000, while not acknowledging any liability or wrongdoing. The
three men who sued Laskowski claimed in their lawsuits that the officer
conducted unconstitutional searches during traffic stops in 2013.
This most recent lawsuit was filed
Aug. 29 after Laidlaw’s parent saw media reports of Laskowski’s other lawsuits,
according to Laidlaw’s attorney, Mark Bullman. Laidlaw is seeking a jury trial
and monetary damages. Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan
said he had not received notice of the lawsuit.
Laidlaw, now 20, states in his
lawsuit that Laskowski stopped him on March 21, 2014, on Old Village Run near
the intersection of Village Court while he was driving to work.
According to the lawsuit, Laskowski
told Laidlaw he stopped him for driving more than 15 mph on a curve and wanted
to make sure he was not on his cellphone or listening to loud music.
“Then, without any reasonable suspicion
or probable cause to believe that the plaintiff was committing or about to
commit any crime, defendant asked plaintiff if he used ‘occasional recreational
marijuana,’” according to the lawsuit. Laidlaw denied he was speeding or
used marijuana, but Laskowski said he could see marijuana in his vehicle and
said he now had probable cause to search his car, the lawsuit states.
After demanding Laidlaw step out of
his car and patting him down, Laskowksi began an approximately 15-minute search
of the teen’s car. “Defendant Laskowski searched the
vehicle extensively and, while doing so, jokingly stated, ‘You got it
everywhere, dude,’” the lawsuit states. Laidlaw did not have any marijuana
in his vehicle and Laskowski at no time gathered any alleged marijuana as
evidence, the lawsuit states.
After eventually checking Laidlaw’s
license and registration, Laskowski then lectured the young man for several
minutes about the “dangers of having and being caught with marijuana, but then
stated that he was going to let [him] go without any charges whatsoever,”
according to the lawsuit.
Laskowski also told Laidlaw he was
going to put him in the city of Dunwoody’s system as “possibly, might be in
possession of marijuana” and that anytime he was stopped in Dunwoody again, he
would be “red-flagged” as possibly having marijuana.
Laidlaw’s suit claims Laskowski had
“no reasonable, articulable suspicion or probably cause” to initiate the
traffic stop, and unlawfully detained and searched him and the vehicle,
violating his Constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.
“Defendant Laskowski violated
clearly established law. No reasonable officer could have believed that it was
lawful to: (1) stop Mr. Laidlaw without probable cause or reasonable,
articulable suspicion of a traffic violation; (2) detain Mr. Laidlaw beyond the
legal end of the traffic stop without probable cause or reasonable, articulable
suspicion; (3) search Mr. Laidlaw without probable cause, reasonable,
articulable suspicion, a warrant or consent; or, (4) search Mr. Laidlaw’s car
without probable cause, reasonable, articulable suspicion, a warrant or
consent,” according to the lawsuit. “In all the foregoing, Defendant
Laskowski acted with reckless and callous indifference to Mr. Laidlaw’s
constitutionally protected rights.”
Laidlaw’s lawsuit has some
differences from the three lawsuits filed in 2013 and settled earlier this
year. In those three cases, Laskowski called for the Doraville
K-9 unit to conduct drug sniffing around the men’s vehicles after they refused
to allow the officer to search their cars.
Grogan previously said, regarding
the three other lawsuits, that the department changed its policy long before
the settlements and now requires an officer to get a supervisor’s approval
before requesting a K-9 unit.
The department also now follows a
2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states, “absent reasonable suspicion,
police extension of a traffic stop in order to conduct a dog sniff violates the
Constitution’s shield against unreasonable seizures,” Grogan said.
“Our current policy reflects all of
the changes mentioned, which were put in place long before the settlement of
these cases. All of our sworn staff has been trained in our new policy,” Grogan
said. Laskowski received the Meritorious
Service Medal in 2012 and was recently honored for saving an overdose victim.
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