Euclid man settles case

Resident who said he was seriously injured by off-duty Euclid officers will receive $40K

A Euclid man who said he was seriously injured by two off-duty police officers moonlighting as apartment security has reached a settlement in the case.

Erimius Spencer will receive $40,000 as part of the settlement with the city of Euclid and the two officers. Spencer claimed in the suit he filed last year that he was kicked in the face, kneed in the groin and seriously hurt by the security guards in December 2016.

The city and the officers admit no liability and the payment is made “solely to terminate further controversy” related to the incident, according to the terms of the settlement.

With a settlement reached, U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin dismissed the case with prejudice Sept. 18, according to court records.

In his lawsuit, Spencer claimed that off-duty officers Shane Rivera and Michael Amiott confronted him in a hallway of his Richmond Hills Apartment on Dec. 5, 2016 and asked him if he had any warrants and whether he was armed.

Amiott allegedly reached into Spencer’s pocket and found a small amount of marijuana, grabbed him by the arm and shoved him against the wall while ordering him to stop resisting. Spencer denied that he was resisting Amiott.

Amiott then kneed him in the groin and shoved him to the floor while Rivera jumped on his back and restrained his arms and legs, according to the suit.

Then, Amiott allegedly kicked Spencer in the face when he called for help and that both officers shocked him with stun guns before placing him in handcuffs.

Spencer was treated for a broken bone in his face. He was later charged in Euclid Municipal Court with theft, resisting arrest, criminal damaging and drug abuse. The city eventually hired a special prosecutor and the first three charges were dropped in September 2017. He paid a fine for the drug charge.

Amiott was fired from the Euclid Police Department by Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail in October 2017 after he was seen on a viral cell phone video punching an unarmed motorist — Richard Hubbard III — multiple times during a traffic stop that August.

“After a review, I found Amiott to have violated additional departmental rules, including conduct unbecoming and courtesy, calling into serious question his suitability as a Euclid Police Officer,” Gail wrote in a statement announcing Amiott’s firing. “As mayor and public safety director, it is my responsibility to ensure that the Euclid Police Department serves the public professionally, courteously, and conscientiously.”

Amiott had been with the Euclid Police Department since 2014. He joined the department five months after he resigned rather than be fired from the Mentor Police Department for lying about why he stopped a man for a suspended license.

Charges against Hubbard were dropped in November 2017. On Sept. 6, 2018 Hubbard and his girlfriend Yolimar Tirado filed a lawsuit against the city as well as Amiott and Euclid police officers Matt Gilmer and Kirk Pavkov.

Hubbard and Tirado are seeking $3.8 million in compensatory damage for the violation of their rights among other relief, according to the lawsuit. Hubbard, like Spencer, is black.

“(T)he unconstitutional policies and practices of the Euclid Police Department have resulted in excessive use of force against too many citizens in Euclid, Ohio particularly the class of African-American citizens,” Hubbard’s attorney Chistopher McNeil wrote in the lawsuit.

Spencer