Bridgeport officer sued by victim of alleged assault

BRIDGEPORT — The president of the Police Department’s minority officer organization The Guardians, who is awaiting trial on assault charges, is being sued by his alleged victim.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Superior Court, Alexandre Teixeira, of Ansonia, claims Officer Davon Polite and his father, Marvin Polite, repeatedly struck and kicked Teixeira following a minor motor vehicle accident.

“The plaintiff has been forced to incur financial obligations for hospital and medical care and will likely require future care,” the suit states. It seeks damages of more than $15,000.

Teixeira’s lawyer, Noah Kores, declined to comment.

“It’s a shame that we live in such a litigious society that people who admit to being at fault for an accident try and find ways to enrich themselves with frivolous lawsuits,” said the Polites’ lawyer Dennis Bradley. “Time and time again when questioned by the police, he admitted to hitting my client in the rear of the car but now, almost two years later, he seeks compensation. We have no doubt that justice will prevail and my client will be absolved of any wrongdoing.”

Last March, Polite, a four-year member of the police force and the newly elected head of The Guardians at the time, was charged with second-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace in connection with an incident in 2016 outside a city restaurant.

Police said Polite was off duty when he allegedly dragged a Teixeira, 41, from his van and beat and kicked him after the man’s van collided with Polite’s Mercedes sedan on Sept. 19, 2016, on Hurd Avenue.

The victim, who was being treated for trauma to his face and bruises in his side, stated he was leaving the Pioneira restaurant on Hurd Avenue about 1 a.m. when he turned right and his van accidentally struck a newer red Mercedes sedan, causing minor damage.

The victim said a man got out of the driver’s seat of the Mercedes and they got into a confrontation that ended when the man dragged the victim out of his van and, along with at least one other man, beat and kicked the victim, the police report states.

A woman who claims she was in Polite’s Mercedes at the time of the incident said she saw the victim on the ground and she yelled for Polite and the other men to stop assaulting him, the affidavit states.