Winder Police facing $1 million lawsuit

The Winder Police Department and the City of Winder have been named as co-defendants in a lawsuit filed March 10 in Barrow County Superior Court.

The lawsuit, brought on behalf of a minor child and his grandmother Maria Damons, accuses Winder Police officers of committing the acts of false arrest, false imprisonment, illegal search and invasion of privacy.

The allegations stem from an April 16, 2009 incident in which officers went to Damons’ Pinerock Road home to search for the fugitive Quincy Smith.

Damons’ grandson, a minor child, was home alone at the time and answered the officers’ knock at the door. According to court documents, the minor was questioned at length by several officers regarding Smith’s whereabouts. Despite the child’s assertion that Smith was not present, the officers reportedly requested permission to search the home.

Allegedly, the minor refused to allow the officers to search the home and requested permission to call his mother – a request his lawyer, T. Stanley Sunderland, said was denied.

The lawsuit claims the minor child was then forcibly removed from the home and searched.

The complaint states that the officers threatened the minor with arrest if he did not consent to a search of the premises.

The complaint further states that the officers had no warrant, no consent and no probable cause to search Damons’ residence – a violation of the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights.

“The actions that were taken were outrageous and way over the top considering the age of the minor plaintiff,” Sunderland said. “He is obviously not someone who would have been running with the guy they were looking for.”

The plaintiffs are requesting a judgment in the amount of $1 million for the “great physical pain and mental anguish” the minor child was made to suffer as a result of the detention. The lawsuit further claims that the plaintiff was “brought into public scandal, infamy, disgrace and embarrassment and was greatly humiliated by the incident.”

“It is something that shouldn’t have happened,” Sunderland said. “It is something that the minor and his mother are very upset about.”

The city and the police department have 30 days to file an answer to the suit.