Brian Bowling
Two Pittsburgh police officers
ignored clear evidence that a library security guard was innocent when they
arrested him on Sept. 16 for the armed robbery of Dana's Bakery in Homewood, the
man claims in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
DeAndre Brown, 26, of
Lincoln-Larimer is suing the city, Detective Nicholas Bobbs, Officer Frank
Welling and as yet unnamed police supervisors for false arrest, wrongful
imprisonment, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional
distress.
A city spokesman couldn't be
reached for comment.
Brown, a security guard at the
Carnegie Library in Homewood, was attending a work-related seminar four miles
away at the main branch in Oakland on Sept. 10 when the bakery was robbed, the
lawsuit says.
Despite video surveillance,
sign-in sheets and eyewitnesses confirming he was at the seminar, police
charged him with the robbery based on a bakery employee identifying Brown, a
frequent customer, as the robber when he came into the store the next day, the
lawsuit says.
Brown spent 36 days in jail and
another 13 days on electronic monitoring until the District Attorney's Office
withdrew the charges, the lawsuit says.
