Allentown couple says police made warrantless arrest

An Allentown man claims in a federal lawsuit that city police arrested him without a warrant, included false information in a police report and ransacked his home after a dispute over a neighbor’s son hitting his car with a soccer ball.

Michael R. Morency said he displayed a gun, which he was licensed to carry, as the neighbor climbed his porch steps with raised fists in the June 2018 incident. Police arrested him the next morning, admitting they didn’t have a warrant, according to a lawsuit.

Morency and his wife, Roeuth Morency, allege that while he was held in jail on misdemeanor assault charges that were later dismissed, police ransacked their home searching for guns they mistakenly believed he owned. The officers, who did not show a warrant or say they had one, took $2,000 in cash, and magazines and ammunition for the guns, which were never returned, the lawsuit claims.

Allentown spokesman Michael Moore said the city has not been served with the lawsuit and has no comment. In addition to the city, the suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Allentown, names former police Chief Tony Alsleben and three officers.

Morency’s attorney, Everett Cook, said the strongest support for the claim comes from the fact that the simple assault and disorderly conduct charges against Morency were dismissed at a preliminary hearing.

“That means there is no probable cause that this defendant committed the crimes,” Cook said.

The suit alleges the police actions violated the couple’s civil rights, constituted malicious prosecution and false imprisonment, and inflicted emotional distress.

According to the lawsuit: Michael Morency saw two teenage boys playing soccer across his front yard late at night on June 14, 2018, using Morency’s car as a backstop. He told the kids to get off his property and one of the boys, whom Morency identified as the neighbor’s son, kicked the soccer ball at Morency’s car once again.

Morency jumped off his porch as the boy ran to retrieve the ball and the two collided, with the boy falling on his buttocks. The boy then left, uttering threats that his father would give Morency a beating, the suit says.

The suit says the boy’s father climbed Morency’s porch steps with raised, clenched fists. Morency warned the neighbor to back off and then pulled a handgun from his pocket. Morency has a license to carry firearms and said he never pointed it at the neighbor. Upon seeing the gun, the neighbor left, the suit says.

Police arrived at Morency’s home about 12:30 a.m. the next day and demanded that Morency come outside to be arrested. The suit says Morency calmly refused and closed his door. He was arrested later that morning when he was stopped in his car by three police cars a block from his house, the lawsuit says.

The suit claims the affidavit filed by police officer Eric Blood failed to mention that Morency’s neighbor’s son had been trespassing and hitting his car with a ball. It also stated that the neighbor was standing on the sidewalk when Morency displayed his gun, whereas Morency asserts that the neighbor was on his property and advancing in a threatening manner. And it said Morency owned six guns, when he only owned three.

During a hearing in which District Judge Patricia Engler granted Morency bail, the judge referred to the false information that Morency owned six guns before imposing a condition of bail that he not be allowed to live at his home while the charges were pending. The suit alleges that as a result of the officers’ actions, Morency was unable to spend time with his wife and two children and had to spend a large sum of money for food and lodging until his attorney succeeded in having the bail condition lifted.

Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581; peter.hall@mcall.com.