Wind Creek Bethlehem
ALLENTOWN - Surveillance footage of his actions has doomed a man's excessive force lawsuit filed after his rowdy son was kicked out of a Pennsylvania casino.
Allentown federal magistrate judge Pamela Carlos on July 14 tossed the suit of David Brill, who was caught on Wind Creek Bethlehem cameras and police bodycam footage interfering with the arrest of his son Karl after Karl berated casino staff for being refused a drink.
Though he ultimately pled guilty to disorderly conduct, he still hired attorney Kevin O'Brien of Stampone O'Brien Dilsheimer to sue the casino and Bethlehem police officers in 2024.
"As might be expected, Plaintiff and the defendants offer starkly contrasting accounts of what transpired during the arrest," Carlos wrote.
"However, in this instance - where there is videotape footage from three body-worn cameras, together with surveillance footage from the casino - there is little room for dispute."
That means both the casino and the officers were granted summary judgment 17 months into the case. The events occurred during the 2022 Super Bowl, and Carlos' ruling says Karl didn't handle being refused alcohol well.
He called the bartender names that won't be printed here, made several threatening gestures and danced around the halls of the hotel. He was refused re-entry to the casino as Bethlehem cops were called.
Fatherly advice from David instructed Karl to "shut the hell up... don't say a f---ing word." David stood between officers and Karl and "frequently directed his son not to respond to the officers' basic questions," Carlos wrote.
Casino security told cops they wanted Karl arrested for trespass. Footage from the ensuing physical struggle shows David sticking his arm in between an officer and Karl.
Another officer grabbed David from behind and eventually handcuffed him with the help of casino security supervisor Thomas Bear, despite David's resistance. He was left with a cut on his face and told cops "I'm good" as they placed him in an upright position, and cops sent him to St. Luke's Hospital.
"(T)he Defendant Officers concede that Plaintiff was not the suspect of the criminal investigation they were responding to, and that his ultimate offense was not a 'terribly serious crime,'" Carlos wrote.
"However, the Defendant Officers emphasize - and I agree - that 'Plaintiff made an already bad situation created by his drunken and threatening son even worse.'
"(T)he video footgage confirms that Plaintiff continuously stood between the responding officers and his son and even directed his son to respond to their questions, often shouting expletives in his direction. And to compound matters further, Plaintiff and his son were visibly intoxicated during this whole incident."
