An Ohio man is suing Kentucky police, stating they wrongly arrested him because they thought he had stolen his automobile.
The case was filed by Henry Lee Sanders III against the Florence Police Department and is being handled by The Kemper Law Office. According to the report, he was the victim of excessive force and roughness from the officers during a traffic check.
Sanders was given an order to stop on November 11, 2022, in Boone County, close to Burlington Pike and Utz Avenue, according to a complaint and his counsel. Sanders’ vehicle was allegedly thought to be stolen by Officer James Wilbers.
On April 18, 2019, Sanders revealed that his 1996 blue Ford Crown Victoria had been taken from outside his Cincinnati home, more than three years prior. The same day, police in the neighboring suburb of Newport, Kentucky, discovered the vehicle. Sanders found the automobile, but it was missing its front license plate, Ohio GYR6482, according to an incident report from the Cincinnati Police Department.
According to the filing that Atlanta Black Star was able to view, Wilbers is charged with drawing his gun during the 2022 traffic stop in Florence, Kentucky, yelling “loudly,” and handcuffing Sanders “on the side of the road.” Sanders’ detention site was visited by three additional officers, Kelli Chapman, D.J. Hutcherson, and Patrick Taylor.
“Those who did not update the record to reflect that the vehicle was not stolen after Henry Sanders, the victim on the stolen vehicle report, drove the vehicle,” the November 2023 filing said of the Florence Police Department. “Henry was handcuffed and questioned without being Mirandized after he obeyed the officers’ orders to get out of the car.”
The officers searched the database, according to the lawsuit, and found evidence indicating the car had been found. However according to the Florence police report, he was nevertheless taken into custody on suspicion of driving with a stolen license plate—Ohio plate GYR6482—and second-degree disorderly conduct. Sanders was being held by cops after Florence dispatchers reported the plate as stolen.
Sanders’ 1996 Ford Crown Victoria was towed, and a police report states that he was taken to the local jail. Even after the charges against Sanders were eventually dropped by Boone County, Kentucky, prosecutors, and Sanders’ attorneys maintained that their client had been unfairly punished and that his civil rights had been violated. Punitive and compensatory relief are sought in the complaint.
Sanders’s attorneys claim that he was unable to pay the impound fees necessary to get his automobile back, thus he never did.
“The case serves as a sharp reminder of the value of accountability in law enforcement, and we are working to have a jury trial. In a statement, the Kemper Law Office stated, “We remain steadfast in our conviction that the police department and its officers must be held accountable for their acts.
After claiming to have stolen his car, the police arrested an Ohio man. He still hasn’t received his vehicle back.
