A South Florida man is planning to sue the city of Orlando for a second time nearly 10 years after he says he was wrongly arrested.
In 2008, Juan Cartagena said he was sticking up for an acquaintance who he said was being harassed by officers over illegal parking.
He said the officers turned their attention to him as he spoke out about what he saw as bullying. When he asked for an officer’s badge number, he said he was tackled, pepper sprayed in the eyes and arrested.
“They just didn't like that I asked them a question, or that I wasn't doing exactly what they wanted me to do at that moment,” said Cartagena.
Cartagena believes he was unjustly arrested.
He sued the city of Orlando once, and he and his lawyer are about to do it again, almost 10 years after the fact.
“The charges that were brought against him--resisting arrest without violence and impeding the flow of pedestrian traffic? Those were contrived charges that were made up after the fact,” said his attorney Jerry Girley.
Girley said the first trial ended with a hung jury, but he said he can now use conflicting testimony by two Orlando police officers against them to build an even stronger case.
“Their witnesses didn't do very well during trial. They contradicted themselves, they didn't have good explanations for their actions and we ended up with a hung jury,” Girley said.
Channel 9 obtained video that appeared to show Cartegena alone in a holding cell, his hands cuffed behind him, with no medical treatment for more than an hour, despite his claims of having been pepper sprayed.
During the night in question, a second man was also arrested after he protested the treatment of Cartagena. The arrest was captured on video as the second man was taken down and handcuffed.
“He was arrested defending me. They ended up dropping charges against him as well, and settling out of court,” said Cartegena.
Cartegena hopes that instead of a second trial, the city will settle the case.
Cox Media Group
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