BSU settles excessive force lawsuit
MUNCIE — Ball State University has agreed to pay a local hip-hop artist/bar patron $10,000 to settle an excessive-force civil rights lawsuit. One of its officers had used a "leg sweep" to take the person to the ground.
An agreement in U.S. District Court says the university is making the payment "to avoid further costs and distractions of litigation" that have cost it $91,810 in attorney fees and other legal expenses.
The lawsuit stemmed from the arrest of Djuane McPhaul, aka Juan Da god, around 2:50 a.m. on April 20, 2013, outside the Dill Street Bar.
Federal Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson earlier had thrown out McPhaul's claims accusing BSU police of false arrest and deleting a cellphone video he shot of the incident.
The judge ruled police had probable cause to arrest McPhaul, now 35, for disorderly conduct and public intoxication because he admittedly had been drinking, officers smelled alcohol on his breath, and he continued to make unreasonable noise after being asked to stop.
But it was less clear that he resisted arrest. "Because the only evidence in the record is that McPhaul pulled away (when officer Jordan Brand grabbed McPhaul's wrist), there thus remains a dispute of fact whether he 'forcibly' resisted arrest …," the judge ruled. " … there is a dispute of fact regarding whether McPhaul was resisting arrest or merely trying to hold on to his phone …"
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Brand's use of a leg sweep to take McPhaul down to the ground and handcuff him may or may not have been excessive. Both McPhaul and Brand went down.
"Brand has not shown that the crime at issue was severe enough to warrant the use of force or that McPhaul was attempting to flee or evade arrest sufficient to warrant the use of force," the judge ruled. "In addition, Brand has provided no evidence that McPhaul's pulling or backing away posed a safety threat. Accordingly, Brand's request for summary judgment on McPhaul's excessive force claim must be denied."
As a result, the university was left with the choice of either settling or trying the lawsuit.
"The ruling involving the claim against officer Brand was only a preliminary ruling that there was enough evidence to go to trial on that single claim," Ball State spokesperson Joan Todd told The Star Press. "The University is confident that it would have prevailed at trial, but the costs of a trial in federal court are significant. We resolved this to avoid further costs, and for no other reason."
The settlement of $10,000, which the agreement said "does not constitute an admission of any kind on the part of the defendants," was paid by the university, as were legal expenses.
The school's liability insurance policy required it to pay $150,000 before the insurance policy responded to any loss.
McPhaul's lawsuit sought $200,000 for damage to his character, emotional distress and physical injuries. It also demanded the firing of several officers. McPhaul has a criminal record that includes an armed robbery conviction and being a felon in possession of body armor.
McPhaul had been drinking with two friends who left the bar to get a carryout pizza. The friends pulled up on the street in front of the bar to pick up McPhaul. The friends turned off the lights of their vehicle, which didn't move when an officer flashed his spotlight on them.
When police asked the driver to get out of the car for a field sobriety test, McPhaul emerged from the bar and yelled loudly for 10-15 minutes that his friend had been stopped because he was black.
Ball State is one of fewer than two dozen police departments in Indiana accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
In 2005, while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery, McPhaul claimed he had been coerced by Muncie police and the Delaware County prosecutor's office to give false testimony in a murder trial. Four suspects were charged after 34 gunshots were fired into a crowded Muncie home when the four were denied admission to a late-night party near BSU. The lawsuit, which was unsuccessful, sought new trials for the four men and damages for years of duress suffered by McPhaul.
McPhaul's federal lawsuit against New Castle Correctional Facility, alleging a correctional officer smashed McPhaul's face into a door, slammed him to the ground, kicked him in the head and put his boot on his head, was settled out of court.
Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.