The ACLU of Rhode Island and the Fight Against Police Misconduct
Everyone needs and deserves effective and humane law enforcement in communities and courtrooms. Yet police abuse continues to be a major concern, particularly in poor communities and communities of color. The Rhode Island ACLU uses legal action to hold police officers accountable for their actions.
Category: Active Case Open Government Police Practices
About This Case:
This is a lawsuit against the Pawtucket Police over the Department's refusal to release reports of alleged police officer misconduct generated by its Internal Affairs Division (IAD). The suit argues that the Department's refusal to release the records is a violation of the state’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).
Information on another pending APRA lawsuit against the Pawtucket Police, Lyssikatos v. King (2017), can be found here.
Current Status:
Lawsuit filed in November 2018.
ACLU Cooperating Attorney:
James D. Cullen
More information related to the Pawtucket Police Department:
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Category: Active Case Due Process Police Practices Right to Petition & Protest
About This Case:
This is a federal lawsuit on behalf of a North Smithfield resident, challenging the police department’s refusal to remove from its files a note falsely claiming that he is “dangerous,” “psychologically unstable,” and has numerous weapons at his house. Police officials have acknowledged that they have no basis for the claims contained in the note, which was uncovered while the ACLU was litigating another pending lawsuit on behalf of the resident, Jason Richer.
Current Status:
Lawsuit filed in October 2018.
ACLU Cooperating Attorneys:
Thomas W. Lyons, Rhiannon S. Huffman
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Category: Active Case Due Process Fair Administration of Justice Open Government Police Practices
About This Case:
This is a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the RI State Police for abusing their power by retaliating against a Warwick resident who declined to serve as an informant for the agency in an ongoing criminal investigation. The lawsuit argues that RISP relied on a dubious state law to bar the plaintiff from continuing to work at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln when she bowed out of assisting RISP as an informant.
Current Status:
Suit filed in November 2017.
ACLU Cooperating Attorney:
James W. Musgrave
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Category: Active Case Fair Administration of Justice Free Speech Open Government Police Practices Workplace Rights
About This Case:
This is a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Johnston Police Department on behalf of retired Detective James Brady, an 18-year veteran of the force. The suit argues that Johnston Police Chief Richard Tamburini violated Brady’s free speech rights by disciplining him after he spoke to the news media about a matter of public concern.
Current Status:
Suit filed in October 2017.
ACLU Cooperating Attorney:
John W. Dineen
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Category: Due Process Police Practices
About This Case:
This is a federal lawsuit against the Town of Bristol over the police department’s refusal to return to its owners a firearm that the agency seized more than a year ago. The suit is on behalf of two parents who are Bristol residents and inherited their son’s firearm collection after he tragically took his own life. The suit argues that the Bristol Police Department violated the parents’ rights to due process and their Second Amendment rights by refusing to return the firearm to them.
Current Status:
Suit filed in August 2017.
ACLU Cooperating Attorneys:
Thomas W. Lyons, Rhiannon S. Huffman
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Category: Active Case Open Government Police Practices
About This Case:
This is a series of legal actions over police departments' refusal to release reports of alleged police officer misconduct generated by their Internal Affairs Divisions (IAD).
A lawsuit, Lyssikatos v. King, filed on behalf of Dimitri Lyssikatos, a member of the Rhode Island Accountability Project, argues that the Pawtucket Police Department's refusal to release the records is a violation of the state’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).
A similar lawsuit, Cox v. Goncalves, a was filed in November 2018.
In a separate legal action, in July 2019, as a result of the Woonsocket Police Department's refusal to release similar records, the ACLU appealed to 1) the RI Supreme Court and 2) the Attorney General requesting that both bodies reverse a 2017 Attorney General decision that allows police to keep secret some of its reports of police misconduct. Woonsocket subsequently released the records in August 2019.
Current Status:
The ACLU of RI lawsuit against the Pawtucket Police Department is pending.
ACLU Cooperating Attorneys:
James D. Cullen, R. Kelly Sheridan
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Category: Civil Rights Discrimination Rights of the Disabled Free Speech Police Practices
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed in partnership with the R.I. Disability Law Center on behalf of a profoundly deaf person who was arrested and detained overnight by Woonsocket police for allegedly making an obscene gesture, and who was never provided an interpreter to allow him to communicate with the police during his detention. The case raised important issues regarding municipal agency obligations to accommodate residents who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The lawsuit argued that city officials violated plaintiff David Alves’s “statutory and constitutional rights by unlawfully arresting and detaining him, charging him with violating an unconstitutional City criminal ordinance, subjecting him to discrimination on account of his disability, and failing to accommodate his disability.”
The suit settled favorably in January 2017.
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2011: R.I. ACLU v. Department of Public Safety
Category: Open Government Police Practices
Lawsuit challenging the adoption of regulations by the State Police significantly limiting public access to arrest reports and other police records.
2010: Lopera v. Town of Coventry
Category: Police Practices Privacy Students' Rights
“Friend of the court” brief challenging the constitutionality of a police search conducted on student athletes leaving a soccer match, based solely on the coach’s consent.
2009: Simone v. Town of Johnston
Category: Police Practices Privacy
Favorably-settled federal lawsuit challenging a police department’s illegal disclosure of a resident’s private driver’s license information to a town council member for political purposes.
Category: Open Government Police Practices
Open records lawsuit challenging a police department’s refusal to release a copy of the arrest report of car passengers who may have been victims of racial profiling. A day after the suit was filed, the defendants turned over the requested documents.
Cooperating Attorney: Gary Berkowitz
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Category: Open Government Police Practices
Open records lawsuit seeking police department’s policies governing the use of video surveillance cameras in public street locations.
Cooperating Attorney: Staci Kolb
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2006: Estrada v. R.I. State Police
Category: Immigration Police Practices
“Racial profiling” lawsuit challenging the hour-long detention of a van based solely on the ethnicity of the driver and passengers.
2005: State v. McCormick
Category: Police Practices
Successful criminal defense of a person arrested for “disorderly conduct” by the Westerly police after being stopped for speeding and allegedly making profane comments.
2003: Barros v. Town of Scituate
Category: Discrimination Racial/Ethnic Discrimination Police Practices
Federal lawsuit challenging two separate incidents of racial profiling in which the plaintiff was stopped, questioned and, in one instance, improperly ticketed by Scituate police. A jury ruled for the officer in 2004, and while an appeal was pending, the case was favorably settled.
Cooperating Attorney: Thomas G. Briody
2003: Lanoue v. City of Woonsocket
Category: Police Practices
Federal lawsuit challenging, on Fourth Amendment grounds, a police department’s actions in strip-searching the plaintiff and leaving her naked in a holding cell for over five hours after she was arrested for “driving under the influence.”
Category: Discrimination Racial/Ethnic Discrimination Police Practices
Lawsuit challenging the Providence Police Department’s failure to comply with the state’s “Driving While Black” law which requires police to collect data on all traffic stops for the purpose of determining whether racial profiling is occurring. Comprehensive court orders requiring independent monitoring of the agency, at its expense, were entered. A contempt finding against the Department for non-compliance with those orders was issued in 2002, and the City appealed. The case was remanded to the lower court for further consideration. After lengthy negotiations, the matter was settled with an award of attorneys’ fees.
Cooperating Attorney: Carolyn A. Mannis
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2003: Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) v. Gannon
Category: Open Government Police Practices
Open records suit against the Providence Police Department for refusing to release internal records of police brutality complaints. In 2003 the R.I. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that the records were public and, in a second appeal, an order requiring defendants to turn over the records at no cost and to pay attorneys’ fees. After lengthy negotiations, an award of attorneys’ fees was made.
Cooperating Attorney: Dennis Grieco II
2001: Flowers v. Fiore
Category: Discrimination Racial/Ethnic Discrimination Police Practices
Federal lawsuit on behalf of an African-American man who was stopped in his car and detained at gunpoint by Westerly police in a case of “racial profiling.” The suit sought declaratory relief and compensatory and punitive damages. The lower court dismissed the suit, and the appellate court affirmed the dismissal.
Cooperating Attorney: Thomas G. Briody
1999: Theberge v. Rocco
Category: Police Practices Privacy
Favorably settled federal lawsuit challenging police officers’ warrantless entry into, and search of, a house in order to arrest a person seen to have engaged in underage drinking.
1998: Davis v. Prignano
Category: Discrimination LGBT Rights Police Practices
Lawsuit, filed with GLAD, against the Providence Police Department for failing to release arrest reports of individuals charged with “loitering for indecent purposes” at a park which was the subject of anti-gay sting operations; the records were released.
1997: In re: C.D.
Category: Discrimination LGBT Rights Police Practices
Representation before internal police review board of a person harassed by Providence police officers on the basis of his sexual orientation.
1996: Doriney v. Votto
Category: Discrimination Racial/Ethnic Discrimination Police Practices
Favorably settled lawsuit on behalf of a nine-year-old African-American girl taken to the police station from school after being accused of throwing a snowball at another student.
1995: Direct Action for Rights and Equality v. Gannon
Category: Open Government Police Practices
Successful open records lawsuit filed on behalf of a Providence community group seeking access to various city police department records relating to police brutality.
1994: Ducharme v. State of Rhode Island, Division of State Police
Category: Police Practices Privacy
Favorably settled federal lawsuit challenging the strip search of a person arrested for “disorderly conduct.”
1987: Fratiello v. Gorodetsky
Category: Free Speech Police Practices
Successful federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of two radicals, against Providence police for interfering with their free speech rights through harassment and bad faith arrests; the court struck down two ordinances under which the plaintiffs had been continually arrested.
1983: Elmer v. Ricci
Category: Free Speech Police Practices
The Providence police department issued a formal written apology and paid damages to settle this suit on behalf of a protester who had been arrested while peacefully leafleting outside a building where Henry Kissinger was speaking.
1983: The Rake v. Gorodetsky
Category: Open Government Police Practices
Favorable “open records law” decision issued in this case required the Providence Police Department to release various records relating to civilian complaints of police abuse.
1980: Monteiro v. McCarthy
Category: Discrimination Rights of the Disabled Police Practices
This was an unsuccessful police brutality suit brought on behalf of a developmentally disabled teenager who was beaten by East Providence police officers.
1974: Texeira v. Bristol
Category: Police Practices
A jury awarded damages in this police brutality case on behalf of a minority 13-year-old youth.
