Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Brothers file suit against city, two police officers, citing arrest without cause
FORT LAUDERDALE — A pair of brothers are suing two Fort Lauderdale police officers who they say entered their home unlawfully, beat them up and arrested them without cause.
Raymond and Randall Purcell filed the complaint against the city and officers Alexander Paul and Steven Pohorence, both accused in past cases of overzealous policing.
Pohorence was charged with battery after shoving a kneeling protester during a demonstration in downtown Fort Lauderdale on May 31.
The other officer, Paul, is being sued in another case after he shot a Broward man, Melvin Wring, while on duty at Broward’s main bus terminal in June 2019.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s internal affairs investigation cleared both officers of wrongdoing in the Purcells’ arrests. Investigators found that the officers were justified in using force because the brothers had resisted arrest.
In depositions, the officers said they felt threatened because of weaponry they saw displayed on the brother’s walls earlier that day — items that the brothers say are harmless Star Trek memorabilia and collectibles.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office later decided not to prosecute the brothers.
The Purcells filed their lawsuit Monday, one day short of four years from the incident on April 6, 2017. That’s the day Raymond Purcell, who was 62 at the time, called 911 after his car was vandalized, the complaint says.
Raymond Purcell used a flashlight to show officers the damage to his car from where his sister had keyed it earlier that day, the complaint says. The officers told him they would not file a police report because the damage to his car appeared to be under $1,000, meaning it was a misdemeanor and not a felony, records show.
Frustrated, Raymond Purcell
slammed his fist on the hood of his car and threw the flashlight in frustration. Worried that he would get a weapon, police tried to take him into custody. Paul punched Raymond in the face during a tussle, knocking his acrylic dentures from his mouth, the complaint says.
His brother, Randall, tried to intervene and struggled with Pohorence. The complaint says Pohorence kicked him down and placed his foot on his face to hold him there, giving him an inch-long cut to his eye that required medical sutures to repair.
Fort Lauderdale did not respond to a request for comment. The city’s police department declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Pohorence, who had been with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for only six months at the time, had never been investigated for use of force, according to his deposition in the Purcell case.
Over the next four years, Pohorence has been involved in at least 14 violent arrests and has used force 74 times during his time on the force.
Fort Lauderdale’s Police Department recently cleared another officer who faced criminal charges for shooting a protester in the face with a rubber bullet at the same protest. That investigation remains open pending the conclusion of the criminal case against Pohorence.
Paul, the other officer involved in the Purcell brothers’ complaint, has used force 70 times during his six years on the force — and the department said he did not violate department policy any of those times.
After the encounter with the Purcells, Randall Purcell was charged with resisting an officer without violence.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office declined to pursue the charge at the request of his attorneys because “there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” court records say.
The same charge was dropped against Raymond Purcell, the brother who called police in the first place.
The brothers are seeking damages over $75,000 for the violation of their civil rights, for the officers’ assault and battery, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. They are also suing the city of Fort Lauderdale for “negligent training and/or supervision.”