Man Sues Montgomery Police, Alleging Brutality

Joseph Robinson III thought he had caught a lucky break in March when he learned that his van had not been stolen from outside his apartment, as he had thought, but merely towed. Robinson says he contacted Prince George's County police that day and canceled the stolen vehicle report he had filed less than an hour earlier.

But nearly two weeks later on Rockville Pike, as Robinson drove that van to work on a rainy night, unmarked Montgomery County police cars boxed him in and forced him to the side of the road. He was ordered out of the van at gunpoint, police records show.

In a federal lawsuit filed yesterday, Robinson, 53, alleges that what followed amounted to police brutality. He says that he was handcuffed and thrown to the ground, that he suffered a brain injury and that his cheekbone was broken.

The incident touched off cascading personal hardships that forced his family to give up its apartment and, for a time, live out of the van, Robinson said in a recent interview.

Police officials in both counties said yesterday that they would research the incident but later referred calls to county attorneys who could not be reached. Prince George's officers did not respond to inquiries about whether they had canceled the stolen vehicle report that Robinson filed March 17.

According to a Montgomery police report, Robinson's green 1984 Dodge Caravan came up as stolen when an officer checked it against a shared law enforcement database on the evening of March 28. Officers surrounded him, forced him to a stop and ordered him out at gunpoint, the report says.

Neither that incident report nor a separate police report documenting the use of force accuses Robinson of assaulting the officers or disobeying their commands. The incident report does, however, say he was not handcuffed when he was "pushed in to a prone position on the pavement."

Robinson's attorney Joseph Cammarata said yesterday that his client has been arrested before and once pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. But Cammarata said Robinson's record did not justify the use of force, because, he said, police thought the van had been stolen from Robinson. In addition, he said, Robinson's conduct at the time he was pulled over did not require such force.

"There was no resistance," Cammarata said. "No attempt to flee or to assault the officers. Nothing but compliance."

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, seeks $11 million in compensatory and punitive damages. It accuses Montgomery police of assault, false imprisonment and civil rights violations.

In a recent interview in Cammarata's office, Robinson described the incident as his wife and two of his children sat on a sofa behind him. He recalled that on March 28 he was heading to work at the Shady Grove Metro yard, where he was employed as a mechanical technician.

He said that while driving north on Rockville Pike he began to notice that cars around him were blocking him in, preventing him from changing lanes, when suddenly a sport-utility vehicle in front of him slammed on its brakes. A man jumped out, pointed a gun at him and ordered him to put his hands up, Robinson said.

Realizing that it was police officers who had stopped him, Robinson said he left the van and slowly backed away from it, as ordered. He heard the clicking of guns all around. Contrary to the Montgomery police incident report, Robinson said he was handcuffed, and "the next thing I know, I was going down to the pavement, headfirst." He tilted his head to the right just before the impact, he remembered.

"When I hit the concrete, it was like the television went off and then came back on," he said.

The questions came later, he said. Where was his wallet? What was his name? He answered, and the police officer who questioned him immediately realized the error. "He was acting like he was real sorry," Robinson said. "He had his arm around me and he patted me on the back."

One of the four defendants, Charles Haak, said neither he nor the other officers named in the lawsuit would comment.

In addition to Robinson's fractured cheekbone, medical reports provided by Cammarata document "losses in several areas of cognitive functioning."

The sleeplessness, depression and irritability are easy to understand, Robinson said, but "it's hard to explain" the cognitive impairment. "Sometimes my thinking, it rewinds and goes back to zero."

Unable to work, Robinson said he was forced to give up the apartment in Capitol Heights where he lived with his wife and three children. They moved into the van. More recently, with the aide of disability payments, the family has found shelter with relatives or in motels.

"It's turned his life upside down," Cammarata said. "Loss of his house, loss of his job, all for the want of asking the man his name."

Robinson said he has lost the ability to indulge in his interest in dancing and singing, as he said he did several months before the incident during a performance at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the District.

"My main gift was as a vocalist," he said. "I love to sing more than anything. . . . Now I can't even remember a line."

Post researcher Meg Smith also contributed to this story.