The agenda item reads, “the Board of Trustees has determined that it is in the best interests of the Township to enter into a Settlement Agreement.”
The lawsuit was filed in Butler County Common Pleas Court in January 2022 against police officers Tanner Csendes and Timothy Mitkenbaugh, Meijer and unnamed others. The claims are false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, discrimination, conspiracy and asked for punitive damages.
Lindsay went to the Tylersville Road Meijer on Jan. 29, 2021 to pick up a few items and entered the store after the police. The suit said he is a 60-year-old African American and was dressed in an orange jacket. The alleged shoplifter was a white male in his 30s wearing a dark green or gray Carhart coat with a red hoodie underneath.
“Officers Csendes and Mitkenbaugh detained, interrogated and accused plaintiff solely based on plaintiff’s race,” the suite reads. “Despite the fact the Meijer representative knew plaintiff was not the white male who the officers were looking for, the Meijer representative did nothing to prevent or stop the unconstitutional detention by the officers.”
According to township records the officers ultimately arrested a 37-year-old Cincinnati man after the encounter with Lindsay. They recovered $387 worth of merchandise, two knives and two meth pipes. Area 3 Court records indicate he has since died.
The Journal-News obtained a 67-page investigation report that included an email Lindsay sent the police department supervisory staff describing his experience.
“I feel I was racially profiled and there is nothing anyone can say to make me think differently about what occurred,” the former elementary school teacher wrote. “I was humiliated, embarrassed, degraded, and marginalized. No one should ever be made to feel that way. No one.”
Both the township and Meijer filed motions to dismiss the case but Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Howard denied most of their requests. He did toss the conspiracy claim against both the officers and Meijer saying Lindsay can’t prove they “worked together to illegally detain him and inflict emotional distress on him by targeting him because of his race.”
Lindsay’s attorney Fanon Rucker said under the terms of the settlement he can’t say much, “This matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, including Mr. Lindsay. I have no further comment as the terms of the settlement speak for itself.”
The settlement specifically states the parties are not allowed to comment on the agreement except to say they are pleased with the outcome and it “speaks for itself.”
The settlement also stipulates Lindsay acknowledges the defendants “expressly deny liability or wrongdoing, and he agrees and understands that this release does not constitute an admission of any liability or wrongdoing by Releasees in connection with the claims asserted in the suit.”
Police Chief Joel Herzog declined comment because of the settlement terms but gave a lengthy interview to our news partner WCPO a year ago after the lawsuit was filed. He said in the heat of the moment they felt they were justified in engaging with Lindsay and when they first spotted him from a distance weren’t even aware he was Black because he had a hat and mask on.
As for the fact Lindsay’s attire didn’t match the suspect’s clothing, “descriptions constantly change in our line of work” he said the description in this case didn’t change but “they have clothing in the store that many times suspects discard what they’re wearing to change their appearance or they’ll grab something and put something else on.”
He also said Csendes, a rookie on the township’s police force, admitted he knew they had the “wrong guy” when they were approaching Lindsay but didn’t know how to tell his training officer they were making a mistake.
“I think they made errors, if we look back 20/20 and look back at what was there, we know, we’ve ruled, we found, you did not have the articulable (reasonable) suspicion you should have, but that doesn’t mean at the time what they experienced, it wasn’t legal, it wasn’t professional and that’s why they did it,” Herzog said a year ago. “But it was in error they made mistakes, that’s clear in our investigation, they made mistakes here.”
After the investigation into the incident the two officers were admonished and ordered to do some retraining.
Neither Meijer nor their attorney could be reached for comment.
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