dannyboy
20 Jun 2006, 11:54 AM
link (http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060620/NEWS01/606200341)
Police sued after mix-up
Customer was identified as one of robbers
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Rosezell Royles picked a bad time to fill up his BMW.
The Forest Park man's brief visit to a BP station in Springfield Township last month landed him in the middle of a criminal investigation, which he says almost cost him his freedom and his reputation.
Armed robbers held up the station shortly after Royles left May 23, and police immediately identified him as a suspect.
In the days that followed, Royles says, police raided his house, broadcast his name on TV and handcuffed him in front of friends and family.
Turns out, he did nothing wrong.
Royles sued Springfield Township and Forest Park officials Monday, seeking more than $1 million in damages. He accuses police in those communities of negligence and violating his civil rights.
The trouble started when police lifted Royles' fingerprint from the door of the gas station after the robbery. They then viewed videotape from a surveillance camera and concluded that one of the robbers resembled Royles.
Royles' lawyer, Ken Lawson, said police were careless. He said neither suspect looks like Royles, and he noted that his client was among hundreds of customers who passed through the door that day.
Lawson said police should have talked to Royles before announcing he was a suspect.
"Mr. Royles was out of town on vacation celebrating the Memorial Day holiday," Lawson wrote in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court.
Royles could not be reached Monday.
Springfield Township police charged Royles with robbery May 25, court records show. The lawsuit claims Forest Park police raided his house May 28, when Royles was not home, and pointed guns at his 17-year-old daughter.
Springfield Township police acknowledged two days later that Royles was no longer a suspect and dropped his arrest warrants. A dismissal of the charges was filed May 31.
According to the lawsuit, Forest Park police tracked him down at his home May 29, handcuffed him and detained him for a half-hour.
"We were in the process of dismissing the charges when he got stopped," Springfield Township Police Chief David Heimpold said. "It's pretty unusual. It was kind of freak timing."
Heimpold would not discuss details of the case but said investigators have identified another possible suspect.
"Rosezell was not involved," he said.
Police sued after mix-up
Customer was identified as one of robbers
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Rosezell Royles picked a bad time to fill up his BMW.
The Forest Park man's brief visit to a BP station in Springfield Township last month landed him in the middle of a criminal investigation, which he says almost cost him his freedom and his reputation.
Armed robbers held up the station shortly after Royles left May 23, and police immediately identified him as a suspect.
In the days that followed, Royles says, police raided his house, broadcast his name on TV and handcuffed him in front of friends and family.
Turns out, he did nothing wrong.
Royles sued Springfield Township and Forest Park officials Monday, seeking more than $1 million in damages. He accuses police in those communities of negligence and violating his civil rights.
The trouble started when police lifted Royles' fingerprint from the door of the gas station after the robbery. They then viewed videotape from a surveillance camera and concluded that one of the robbers resembled Royles.
Royles' lawyer, Ken Lawson, said police were careless. He said neither suspect looks like Royles, and he noted that his client was among hundreds of customers who passed through the door that day.
Lawson said police should have talked to Royles before announcing he was a suspect.
"Mr. Royles was out of town on vacation celebrating the Memorial Day holiday," Lawson wrote in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court.
Royles could not be reached Monday.
Springfield Township police charged Royles with robbery May 25, court records show. The lawsuit claims Forest Park police raided his house May 28, when Royles was not home, and pointed guns at his 17-year-old daughter.
Springfield Township police acknowledged two days later that Royles was no longer a suspect and dropped his arrest warrants. A dismissal of the charges was filed May 31.
According to the lawsuit, Forest Park police tracked him down at his home May 29, handcuffed him and detained him for a half-hour.
"We were in the process of dismissing the charges when he got stopped," Springfield Township Police Chief David Heimpold said. "It's pretty unusual. It was kind of freak timing."
Heimpold would not discuss details of the case but said investigators have identified another possible suspect.
"Rosezell was not involved," he said.