GROVE CITY

Man sues for satisfaction

Randy Turner says his life will never be the same since he was driving home to Youngstown from Cleveland on July, 26 1998 and was pulled over for speeding by Boston Heights police outside of Cleveland.

Turner, 43, now of Grove City, said he had a licensed, unloaded handgun in the back seat and a clip of ammunition in the trunk.

Turner said the patrolman, Dennis Nyce, panicked at the sight of the gun and a second patrolman, Robert Zawiski, arrived, loaded Turner’s gun, and charged him with illegally carrying a loaded weapon and public intoxication.

Turner also claims Zawiski hit him in the face and broke his glasses and kicked and dragged him when he was handcuffed.

Turner, who says he had no prior record aside from traffic tickets, passed the Breathalyzer test. The loaded weapon charge was overturned.

In the nearly two years since that night, Nyce admitted he saw Zawiski load the gun, the FBI got involved, Zawiski pleaded no contest to obstructing justice and was fired, and Nyce resigned to join another police force.

Last July Turner filed a civil suit against Zawiski and Nyce, two other department patrolmen and the police chief, as well as the village of Boston Heights. His case is scheduled to be heard in August in U.S. District Court.

"They violated my civil rights," Turner said. "It’s like somebody reached inside me and took all of my beliefs away."

Turner lived in Youngstown at the time of the incident, but moved to his hometown of Grove City in February 1999 to "get settled down again," giving up a lucrative woodworking business.

Turner now owns Top of the Line Construction in Grove City, but says he makes about a fifth of what he earned in Youngstown.

"Originally, my lawyer and I wanted $50,000 and an apology, but they only offered me $25,000," Turner said.

The $25,000 settlement was called an "offer of judgment," which, according to Turner’s lawyer, Scott C. Essad of Boardman, means the "parties are ... confessing to the court that they are liable to you, but they do not think a jury will grant you more than the dollar figure amount that they have offered."

But Turner doesn’t agree with their view of the offer.

"Now, I just want it to go to trial. I don’t want to put a dollar figure on it at this point. They dragged me through the system this far so I might as well continue," he said.

In the meantime, Turner says he relies on his faith to help him get through the trauma of that night.

"I was so overwhelmed by all of this, I became ... paranoid of every police officer that got around me," Turner said. "I am starting to get back to myself and thinking more clearly."

Turner also feels his lawsuit is about principle. "They abused me with the system. Now they have to face it."