CLARKSBURG – A woman is suing the Morgantown Police Department and two of its officers for injuries she sustained from a wrongful arrest and assault.
On Feb. 13, 2013, Justin M. Judy knocked on the door of Rachel Marie Robinette's place of business in response to a call from a person who lived in an apartment above the place of business that the officer described as a domestic dispute call, according to a complaint filed Feb. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Robinette claims Judy asked her for her name and she answered with her first name and inquired why there was an officer at her door asking for her personal information. She claims Judy explained it was part of the domestic dispute call and asked if everyone was ok, which she responded that she was fine.
The plaintiff opened her door wider to let Judy hear the volume of her music and that it was not unusually loud and explained that they might have been talking loudly, but that they were getting along and everything was fine.
Robinette claims she pointed out numerous apartments above and to the side of her place of business that occupied students of West Virginia University and the fact that the tenants in those apartments were sometimes loud.
David Clark, who was a guest of Robinette's, began talking in the background and Robinette asked him to be quiet because she was talking to a police officer and informed Judy that the voice belonged to her friend, according to the suit.
Robinette claims without warning or reason, and without a warrant or any articulable reason to suppose that any crime had been or was being committed, Judy pushed the door open with such force that he broke the glass out of the door's window.
At the moment that Judy broke the glass, Tyler F. Holder ran into the building and both Clark and Robinette were placed under arrest.
Robinette claims Judy locked his hands behind her neck, pushing her chin down against her check, and lifted her up until her feet were not touching the ground, which inflicted a great amount of strain on her neck and she began crying.
Judy "manhandled" Robinette for approximately 100 feet to the squad car and caused her glasses to fly off her face and caused her to lose a silver Tiffany bracelet during the encounter, according to the suit.
Robinette claims the defendants acted with malice when they abused her and she suffered serious physical and emotional damages as a result.
Robinette is seeking compensatory damages. She is representing herself.
The case is assigned to District Judge Irene M. Keeley.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 1:15-cv-00025