WARREN (WWJ) – A Lapeer man has filed a lawsuit against the Warren Police Department and four of its officers, claiming he was sexually harassed and unlawfully searched during a traffic stop that ended with no tickets or arrests.
Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Harrington, P.C. filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division, on behalf of Kirk Knopek of Lapeer, seeking $525,000 stemming from a March 13, 2022 traffic stop on 9 Mile Road in Warren.
The lawsuit alleges Knopek was riding in the back seat of a family member's car that Sunday afternoon when they were pulled over and stopped in the parking lot of a tool and die shop.
Two Warren police officers were in the car that pulled them over, and two more arrived in another patrol car a short time later, according to the lawsuit. One officer told the driver they had been pulled over due to an improper license plate.
The driver told the officer she had just bought the car and insurance, but had not yet purchased a plate, according to the suit. The officer then "initiated an illegal search" of the car and "claimed that he found a piece of crack (cocaine) on the seat of the car," according to the lawsuit.
The officers then accused the occupants of the car, including Knopek, of buying drugs because they had "come from south of 8 Mile Road," the lawsuit says. One officer then began to "aggressively, and baselessly, accuse [Knopek] of having drugs in his possession, ordered him out of the vehicle, and placed him in handcuffs."
The plaintiff was compliant with officers and allowed them to handcuff him, take his shoes off and put him in the back of the police car.
The lawsuit claims officers did not find any drugs in the car after searching it for a half hour. Officers then told Knopek he had a warrant for his arrest for a prior charge of driving without a license.
He was then ordered out of the car and told to "assume a standing position to initiate an illegal roadside body cavity search," according to the lawsuit. One officer allegedly put on blue gloves and ordered him to spread his legs and "just be quiet."
The officer then "proceeded to pull down and reach into Plaintiff's sweatpants, pull down and reach into Plaintiff's underwear, reached in grabbing Plaintiff's buttocks, and then forcefully inserted his finger(s) into Plaintiff's anus, thereby performing an illegal roadside body cavity search on Plaintiff, for which he had no warrant and no justification for an exception to the requirement of a warrant," the lawsuit says.
As the officer continued the roadside body cavity search, Knopek told the officers he was "going to have a seizure," but the officer continued to penetrate him with two fingers. Knopek was then placed back in the police car, in severe pain, according to the complaint
Ultimately, the officers took no action on the alleged warrant and let everyone leave with no arrests made, no car impounded and no tickets issued, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also alleges the three other officers stood by and never intervened when the officer allegedly conducted the cavity search.
The lawsuit is seeking $75,000 for each of the following counts:
• Excessive force
• Violation of civil rights under the Fourth Amendment -- illegal search and seizure
• Failure to intervene to prevent violation of the plaintiff's Fourth or 14th Amendment Rights
• Failure to train, inadequate policies and/or procedures, customs and practices and failure to supervise -- deliberate indifference (against the city of Warren)
• Gross negligence / gross negligence per se
• Assault and battery
• Sexual harassment
The lawsuit is also demanding a trial by jury.
WWJ has reached out to the Warren Police Department's attorney for comment on the lawsuit. As of 3 p.m., officials said they had not reviewed the lawsuit.
