ORLAND, Fla.,None — A man is suing the Orlando Police Department in federal court after he says he was falsely arrested in May of 2009.
Daniel A. Jones filed the suit at the U.S. Courthouse in Orlando on October 18.
Jones claims Orlando police officer Christopher Jackson battered and assaulted him, and also violated his civil rights during a verbal confrontation at Universal Studios Orlando.
According to the complaint, Jones argued with the officer after one of his friends was detained for allegedly touching a character during Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. The complaint claims the officer then hit Jones in the chest.
Jackson wrote in an arrest report that Jones swore at him and even threatened to fight him.
Officer Jackson arrested Jones. He was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence.
"Even in his own handwritten report, there is no fact to support an arrest," said Jack Nichols, Jones' attorney.
The charges were eventually dropped by the State Attorney's Office and a judge.
"This officer did not like what my client was telling him, but that did not give him grounds to arrest him," Nichols said. "So, when he arrested him for saying something he didn't like, that's a violation of the Right to Free Speech of the United States Constitution.
In early October, a woman claimed an off-duty Orlando police officer broke her arm at Universal Orlando Resort. Nancy Kavallierakis said she wants the charges against her dropped. She acknowledged she was drunk at the time of her arrest.
"Every time I see one of these things, I'm amazed," Nichols said.
According to city documents, Jackson retired from the Orlando Police Department in June of 2011.
Jones is also suing Universal Orlando Resort and an security officer who was involved in the confrontation.
WFTV
