Court upholds former constables’ convictions

The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by two former constables who were convicted of official oppression and simple assault involving a 50-year-old Munhall woman while they were serving a warrant over an unpaid $50 parking ticket.

Michael Lowman, 47, and Christian Constantini, 28, had gone to the home of Esther Peyton on Oct. 14, 2014, to serve the warrant. They said she was uncooperative and they were compelled to take her into custody.

But Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara, during a nonjury trial in September 2015, found that the men abused their authority as they handcuffed Ms. Peyton so tightly that her wrists were injured, pushed her to the floor and dragged her out the front door by her foot.

The judge also said she believed the claims of Ms. Peyton and family members who testified that the men never provided the warrant to Ms. Peyton and rejected her offers to pay the ticket, although they were supposed to accept payment.

Judge Lazzara said she found the men’s version of events contrived and inconsistent and their attitudes in court to be “disingenuous, sarcastic, combative and arrogant.” She noted that Mr. Lowman even lost his temper in court.

She sentenced Mr. Lowman to four years of probation and Mr. Constantini to three years of probation, but she said she felt that a term of incarceration would be good for both of them.

“There’s part of me that thinks you should be placed in handcuffs and taken immediately to the Allegheny County Jail,” Judge Lazzara told Mr. Constantini. The judge also accused Mr. Lowman of “stunning arrogance” and said, “I think your behavior was even worse. It is my hope you will never serve as a constable again.”

The Superior Court affirmed Judge Lazzara’s findings and her sentences because of the men’s “egregious manner in which they executed [the] arrest, as well as [the] gross abuse of power they demonstrated in connection with what was ultimately [an] unnecessary arrest.”

The court also made a point that the constables “had direct financial motive to take [the] victim into custody and bring her to court because they are paid more if they physically bring [the] defendant to court, and they do not get paid until [the] personal check offered from [the] defendant clears.”

Prosecutors also provided evidence that both men had been warned about their aggressive behavior a year before the incident involving Ms. Peyton.