Use-of-force suit against Metro set to begin

Greg Tuttle

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

It was a hot July afternoon five years ago when a Metro Police officer chasing a suspected drug dealer approached Esael Lopez on the second-floor balcony of a downtown apartment.

The officer asked if Lopez had seen anyone run through the courtyard below. What happened next is either a case of police brutality or reasonable force against a combative citizen. That's for a federal jury to decide.

Lopez, a Cuban immigrant, and two Metro officers he accuses of beating him when he couldn't answer their questions are in federal court this week to determine whether the officers violated Lopez's civil rights.

Lopez, 44, filed the lawsuit seeking unspecified damages from the officers and Metro Police Department three years ago. The trial began Monday before Judge Kent Dawson and is expected to last through the week.

During opening statements Monday, attorneys on both sides gave similar accounts of events leading to the confrontation that left Lopez bloodied and bruised.

According to the attorneys, three Metro officers on bicycle patrol June 6, 1995, spotted what they believed was a drug transaction between two young men in front of an apartment at 316 W. Cincinnati St. One man ran into the apartment complex with Officer Brian Greenway close behind.

But when Greenway entered the courtyard, the man was gone. He did see two men standing on a second-floor balcony and walked toward them to ask if they saw where the suspect fled.

Here the stories take different paths.

Lopez's attorney, James Boles, said Greenway walked up to Lopez from behind, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. Stunned, Lopez replied in broken English, "I don't know, I don't know," Boles said.

Angered by the lack of cooperation, Boles said, Greenway then put his nightstick to Lopez's throat and pinned him against a wall. Choking, Lopez pushed the nightstick away, Boles said, which only fueled the officer's anger.

"That was the start of what can only be described as a severe beating," Boles said.

Lopez was also struck several times by Officer Steve Leyba, Boles said, and both are named in the lawsuit. The third officer at the scene was initially included in the complaint, but later dropped from the case when it was determined he did not strike Lopez.

Thomas Dillard, the attorney representing the officers and Metro, described a different scene. He said Lopez was not choked by Greenway and grew combative when the officer tried to separate him from another man on the balcony.

Dillard said Lopez tried to push past Greenway, and the officer grabbed him as he lost his balance. Lopez struck next with a blow to the officer's face, Dillard said, "and the fight was on."

Leyba came to Greenway's aid, also striking Lopez in an attempt to get him under control, Dillard said. Lopez was eventually handcuffed and booked on three charges, including battery of a police officer, resisting arrest and trespassing.