Boston Injury Lawyer Blog
Former Boston Councilor David Scondras is suing Lawrence police for Massachusetts police brutality. Scondras, who was the city’s first openly gay city councilor, claims that Lawrence police beat him on October 9, 2006 when he arrived at a school parking lot to meet a man who he had been flirting with online.
The man, 20-year-old Michael Fornesi, pretended he was a 15-year-old during their Internet chats. Scondras, however, claims that he knew all along that Fornesi was a legal adult but that the two of them were playing out a fantasy.
In his Lawrence, Massachusetts police brutality lawsuit, Scondras says that during his arrest, police verbally abused him, threw him onto the ground, placed a gun to his head, and kicked him. He says he broke his tooth and that Sgt. Ryan Shafer allegedly called him an anti-gay name. Scondras claims that after the attack, the police wouldn’t take him to the hospital. Scondras’s attorney says that due to the encounter his client had brain swelling and he had to undergo surgery.
Scondras, in his Lawrence, Massachusetts personal injury complaint, admits that he tried to get away. He says this is because he thought police were going to physically assault him and he didn’t want to become the victim of what could be a “gay bashing” attack.
Fornesi and his father Officer John Fornesi, who was one of the arresting officers at the scene, are among the defendants in the Lawrence police brutality lawsuit. Schafer and Officer Eric Cerullo are also named.
In 2007, Scondras pleaded guilty to enticing a child under 16. He is now a registered sex offender.
Massachusetts Police Brutality
Physical assault, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, making threats, intimidation, and discrimination based on gender, race, or sexual preference are forms of police brutality that are illegal and can be grounds for a civil rights violation complaint against those involved.
David Scondras sues over arrest, October 5, 2009
Former Boston City Councilman, Convicted Pedophile, Now Claims Police Brutality, Edge Boston, October 6, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Lawrence Police Department
