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Photo courtesy Charles V. Tines, Detroit News
The city of Royal Oak agreed Wednesday to a six-figure settlement in a
wrongful arrest case that largely hinged on a chance conversation
between a Royal Oak sergeant and a police chaplain. The settlement
halted a two-week federal court trial just one day before the case was
to go to the jury.
Two Windsor-area men, Timothy McGuire, 35, and James Ryan, 28,
allege they were wrongly arrested and jailed for more than a week after
two officers falsely accused them of a vicious 2003 assault outside the
DTE Energy Music Theater, formerly known as Pine Knob. Two other
men later pleaded guilty to the crime. One of the convicted assailants,
who witnesses described as having torn clothes and a bloody shirt,
had been released on the strength of Sgts. Douglas Warner and Barry
Gale's identification of McGuire and Ryan.
But a Royal Oak police chaplain, Timothy Renaud, testified Warner told
him over breakfast he and Gale -- who were off-duty when they
attended the concert by the country band Alabama -- weren't sure which
passengers on a busload of Ontario concertgoers assaulted a man in
the parking lot.
"They've all got Western garb on, most of them had Western hats, it's
night, it's dark, whole bunch of them looking the same, so we just
grabbed the two that we could get," Renaud testified Warner told him.
One of the men was told: "Either you're going to tell (who committed the
assault) or you're going to go down. Well, they went down." Warner's
tale was particularly shocking, due to a bizarre coincidence. One of the
arrested men, McGuire, was Renaud's Canadian cousin.
McGuire spent nine days in jail. Ryan, who a witness testified was
passed out on the bus when the post-concert assault occurred, was
jailed 11 days as family members scrambled to post a $100,000 cash
bond. Their jailhouse discomfort and fear were heightened by an
August 2003 power failure that blacked out a large swath of North
America.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed Wednesday. But the
city agreed to pay a six-figure settlement, according to one person
familiar with the case. T. Joseph Seward, lawyer for Royal Oak, would
only say the case was settled.
David A. Robinson, the Southfield lawyer for McGuire and Ryan, said
the trial before a jury and U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox revealed a
"web of deceit."
Warner, who since retired, denied making the remarks to Renaud.
The chaplain testified he was unhappy when his cousin filed suit
and placed him in the middle of the dispute. But pressure on the
defendants to settle the case ratcheted up Thursday when the
officers' first witness, Lawrence Gillikin, lent weight to McGuire's
claims that Warner threatened him at the scene to identify the
attackers or be charged with the crime himself.
Gillikin, a friend of the two Royal Oak officers who went to the concert
with them aboard Warner's recreational vehicle and was alongside
them when they rushed to the scene of the fight, testified that on the
drive home, Warner admitted telling someone on the bus: "You
could be (an) accomplice if you don't tell me who did it." Also, "I
didn't believe I could identify the individuals, so I was impressed that
they could," Gillikin testified of Warner and Gale.
Not everything was going the plaintiffs' way. Beating victim Danny
Threlfall, who was unable to identify his attackers for police, testified
Tuesday he had a "flashback" when he saw Ryan in the courthouse
and believed he was involved in the assault. Another defense
witness, Amber Widmer, also identified Ryan.
"I'm going to do everything I can to put this behind me," Ryan said
Wednesday after the settlement was struck. Although the city and
officers admitted no wrongdoing, "the fact that they're willing to settle
tells me they know they wronged us," Ryan said.
the trial before a jury and U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox revealed a
"web of deceit."
Warner, who since retired, denied making the remarks to Renaud.
The chaplain testified he was unhappy when his cousin filed suit
and placed him in the middle of the dispute. But pressure on the
defendants to settle the case ratcheted up Thursday when the
officers' first witness, Lawrence Gillikin, lent weight to McGuire's
claims that Warner threatened him at the scene to identify the
attackers or be charged with the crime himself.
Gillikin, a friend of the two Royal Oak officers who went to the concert
with them aboard Warner's recreational vehicle and was alongside
them when they rushed to the scene of the fight, testified that on the
drive home, Warner admitted telling someone on the bus: "You
could be (an) accomplice if you don't tell me who did it." Also, "I
didn't believe I could identify the individuals, so I was impressed that
they could," Gillikin testified of Warner and Gale.
Not everything was going the plaintiffs' way. Beating victim Danny
Threlfall, who was unable to identify his attackers for police, testified
Tuesday he had a "flashback" when he saw Ryan in the courthouse
and believed he was involved in the assault. Another defense
witness, Amber Widmer, also identified Ryan.
"I'm going to do everything I can to put this behind me," Ryan said
Wednesday after the settlement was struck. Although the city and
officers admitted no wrongdoing, "the fact that they're willing to settle
tells me they know they wronged us," Ryan said.
| Royal Oak settles in wrongful arrest trial of 2 Windsor men Paul Egan / The Detroit News |
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