POLICE BRUTALITY SUIT FILED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992                   TAG: 9202080383
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
POLICE BRUTALITY SUIT FILED
A man who was arrested by Roanoke police on drunk-in-public charges last summer is suing the city, claiming he was a victim of police brutality.
Roger Nicely asked for $750,000 in damages in a lawsuit filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Nicely suffers from a neurological condition that requires a pump implanted in his side to administer a drug to his spinal cord, which was damaged several years ago during surgery.
The lawsuit claims the pump implant was damaged - causing him to have to receive emergency medical treatment - when he was slammed to a fence and handcuffed by a police officer.
"Because of the neurological condition [Nicely] suffers from, the police treatment of him in this instance was nothing short of life-threatening brutality," the suit states.
The lawsuit, filed by Charlottesville lawyer John Lowe, accuses Officer W.T. Quesenberry of using excessive force.
According to the suit, Nicely and a friend were stranded on 11th Street Northwest on Aug. 27 when the van they were riding in apparently ran out of gas.
He claimed in the suit that he was approached by police and arrested, then refused medical treatment after he was taken to the jail. Nicely contends in the suit that he was not intoxicated.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said Friday that he was aware of Nicely's allegations. "There is another side to this case," he said.
While declining to elaborate, Dibling said his office is "fully prepared to defend the city, the Police Department and the individual officers involved."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB