Rules in their favor

They faced allegations of excessive force outside bar

Troy police officers cleared of allegations they used excessive force outside a bar.

A federal jury in Utica took less than three hours Wednesday to clear four Troy police officers of allegations that they used excessive force on a then-50-year-old man outside a Congress Street bar in 2018.

The eight-member jury, which heard closing arguments Wednesday in the three-day trial before U.S. District Judge David Hurd, ruled in favor of patrolmen Christopher Parker, Louis Perfetti, Justin Ashe and Kyle Jones, who have remained on active duty.

The incident was captured on two videos. The lawsuit had accused the officers of excessive force, failure to intervene to prevent excessive force and assault and battery. Jurors asked to review both video exhibits before rendering the verdict, court records show. A surveillance camera video from that night was posted to Youtube two years ago.

Michael E. Ginsberg, who along with co-counsel Rhiannon I. Spencer defended the officers, said it was clear from the evidence at trial that the officers acted reasonably and used minimal force in response to “combative and aggressive resistance” of arrest by Lamont Lee, now 53, who brought the suit.

“We feel and we believe we proved to the jury that the officers acted very professionally and very diligently under the circumstances,” Ginsberg told the Times Union.

The trial took place amid a national reckoning on issues of police, excessive force and the often strained relationships

between police and Black communities they patrol.

“We all recognize that there are horrific attacks by police officers that we see in the media now and that no one on our side of the case condones any of those acts,” Ginsberg said, noting he mentioned that point at trial. “As a society we clearly need to address those issues — but that false and unsubstantiated claims like this undermine the legitimacy of the real issues.”

On March 3, 2018, police stopped Lee outside Vivian’s Bar on Congress Street about 9:45 p.m, suspecting him of making a hand-to-hand drug deal. Lee, who has a prior conviction for attempted seconddegree robbery, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge to settle the arrest.

The Times Union reported in 2018 that Lee’s defense lawyer, Michael Feit, wanted Troy police Chief Brian Owens to investigate the actions of the patrolmen. The federal suit was filed in April 2019.

David Roche, an attorney who argued the case on behalf of Lee, alleged that, for no apparent reason, the officers punched and kneed Lee, and one placed him in a choke hold.