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City of Rochester to pay $50,000 to settle lawsuit

By: Bennett Loudon//July 30, 2021

City of Rochester to pay $50,000 to settle lawsuit

By: Bennett Loudon//July 30, 2021//

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The city of Rochester will pay $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man claiming police illegally entered his apartment and retaliated after an internal police investigation concluded the police actions were improper.

Police were called to the home of Edward Goolsby Jr. after neighbors reported that he allegedly was abusing his dogs, which Goolsby has adamantly denied.

Goolsby is represented by attorney Elliot D. Shields. His father is a retired Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy, and his brother is a Rochester Police officer.

About 8 p.m. on March 3, 2019, Rochester Police Investigator John Muller knocked on the door of Goolsby’s apartment and asked to enter.

When Goolsby refused, Muller pushed open the door and “and forcibly entered his apartment without consent, a warrant, or the probable cause and exigent circumstances required to lawfully do so,” according to the complaint.

Muller refused Goolsby’s repeated demands that he leave the apartment, the suit claims. When Goolsby called his father Muller hit his hand with a baton and the phone flew out of his hand and broke, Goolsby claims.

Muller radioed for backup and numerous officers responded to Goolsby’s apartment. Two officers “slammed (Goolsby) onto his kitchen counter, pulled his arms behind his back and applied handcuffs to his wrists,” according to the complaint.

After Goolsby’s father arrived he spoke with the officers and Goolsby was released without any charges.

Attorneys representing the city and the police officers say an appropriate amount of force was used by officers and Goolsby was not injured.

Goolsby filed a complaint with the Rochester Police Professional Standards Section, which substantiated Goolsby’s allegation that Muller unlawfully entered his apartment, the lawsuit claims.

During the investigation of the complaint, Muller “admitted that he entered plaintiff’s apartment without a warrant or plaintiffs consent,” according to the suit.

Afterward, police officers retaliated against Goolsby by stopping and harassing him numerous times. Because of the incident, Goolsby’s landlord kicked him out of his apartment, which forced him to pay moving expenses and he lost his security deposit, the suit claims.

A stipulation of discontinuance signed by Shields and Rochester municipal attorney Christopher S. Noone, was filed in federal court Thursday.

“After a mediation conducted by Magistrate Judge Mark Pedersen, the city offered Mr. Goolsby $50,000 to settle his claims against the city and the individual defendants. Mr. Goolsby accepted the offer,” Shields wrote in an email on Friday.

Noone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[email protected] / (585) 232-2035

 

 

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