A federal judge has rejected a man’s claims that Columbus police officers had used excessive force while arresting him for disorderly conduct.
Judge James Sweeney II of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis ruled for the city and three CPD officers in Angelito Mercado’s self-represented lawsuit that also alleged deliberate indifference, race discrimination and violation of equal protection.
“The entire incident is on video,” Sweeney wrote in his order dated Oct. 24, noting the city introduced officers’ bodycam video in the officers’ defense. The video, the judge wrote, “shows Mercado’s case to be a sham.”
Sweeney awarded summary judgment on all of Mercado’s claims.
The suit came about after Mercado was arrested for disorderly conduct at the scene of a domestic incident in which police were explaining to a woman that her child “had not been kidnapped under the (rather messy) family circumstances she describes,” Sweeney wrote before describing in his ruling what is seen on the video.
“Mercado walks up. When he realizes that the police do not intend to go after the child, he gets agitated and starts cursing.”
After Mercado walks off, officers let him go with a warning, the judge wrote. “Then, after a renewed bout of screaming and cursing from Mercado, the officers go after him. He waits, standing (and still cursing) while they walk up to him and put him in handcuffs. The officers’ demeanor remains calm and reasonable. They use no force; Mercado does not resist the handcuffs. The officers repeatedly urge him to calm down.
“The officers walk with Mercado back up the parking lot to a marked police SUV. He is unresisting. Mercado is getting in the back seat, still talking and still unresisting, when, suddenly, he throws himself on the ground and begins shouting and screaming about coronavirus, chest pain, being trapped beneath the car, and so forth. He is obviously shamming (as, indeed, he would admit to officers hours later at the hospital),” Sweeney wrote.
At this point officers call for an ambulance. “EMS puts Mercado on a cot and loads him into the ambulance. Mercado taunts the officers about the trouble he will cause them.”
But the officers’ body cam video vindicated them, as Sweeney concluded.
“The uncontroverted evidence shows that Mercado’s allegations have no basis in fact. This suit was exactly as Mercado threatened on the night of his arrest: frivolous and malicious. It is now over.”
Mercado has filed more than a dozen civil lawsuits in state court in Bartholomew County since July 2020.
But he’s also facing some serious legal jeopardy. That same month, he was charged with Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine, Level 6 felony possession of cocaine and misdemeanor counts of resisting law enforcement, driving while suspended and disorderly conduct. A jury trial on those charges is set for Feb. 28, 2023.
Mercado also has a jury trial date of Dec. 13 on two Level 6 felony charges of invasion of privacy, according to court records.
