Alleged Robber Sues his Victims for Violating his Civil Rights

July 28th, 2014. By LucyC

C’mon now—you simply cannot make this stuff up. You can’t help but think of “Green Eggs and Ham”, too as you’re thinking about the plaintiff attorney who may have been approached about the pleasure of taking on this baby…”Would you, could you…take on this case?” So here goes…

If at first you don’t succeed…and Nigel Sykes surely has nothing to lose by trying. He apparently doesn’t have an attorney…he’s just filed his fourth complaint against the officers of the Delaware Police department and Seasons Pizza restaurant alleging his civil rights were violated during his attempted robbery of the pizza place. Yep. HIS rights during HIS attempted robbery.

The 23-year old convicted felon is currently serving out his 15-year sentence for robbery and attempted robbery. It seems that in addition to attempting to rob Seasons, he was also linked to 8 other robberies in the area. But I digress.

The subject of Sykes lawsuit is his treatment at the hands of the restaurant employees and the attending police officers. The story goes that on November 30, 2010 Sykes entered Seasons Pizza located in Wilmington, Delaware, armed with a gun. But he hadn’t banked on the employees swinging into action.

According to his complaint, “The defendant handed me $140.” Then, it all went to hell in a handbasket. Sykes alleges he was grabbed by one of the employees as he tried to leave the store. “After a short struggle, the defendants successfully obtained the handgun from me,” the complaint states. “That is when the assault began.”

Sykes alleges the employees punched and kicked him and poured hot soup over his body. Ouch—that’s really gotta hurt. For $140? I don’t think so.

“I was unarmed and defenseless and had to suffer a brutal beating by all the employees of Seasons Pizza,” Sykes wrote. He also claims he was eventually knocked unconscious during which time he was assaulted by three responding Newport Police officers. Vigilantism or responding to a threat? Would depend on which side of the courtroom you’re on, I’m guessing.

In a complaint filed in February 2011, without an attorney, Sykes that he was knocked unconscious at least twice by Seasons’ employees at the restaurant, then tasered several times by the responding police officers. He also alleged that he was led to a police vehicle where he was punched in the stomach and head then slammed against the trunk.

“They handcuffed me behind my back,” Sykes wrote. “I was aroused from my state of unconsciousness only to realize that I was handcuffed and being tasered. I was tasered a total of three consecutive times while handcuffed.” Racial slurs are also alleged.

That complaint was dismissed in May, 2011, but Sykes filed a second amended version in July 2013, having pled guilty to the attempted robbery. That complaint was also dismissed without prejudice. So, in February 2014, he filed the latest version naming Seasons Pizza, the Newport Police Department and three officers rather than the Delaware State Police as defendants. He also alleges in this version that he was denied medical care at the scene despite the presence of paramedics. Nice.

He was seeking compensatory damages, claiming he continues to suffer the effects of the beating, including bruises, headaches, contusions and burns. Specifically, $100,000 from the Newport Police Dept, $60,000 from the three officers, $100,000 from the pizza joint, and $120,000 from six employees at Seasons.

On April 17, the court dismissed the claims made against the Newport Police Dept and one of the officers… but the court has allowed Sykes to proceed on the assault claims against Seasons and its employees, as well as the claims of excessive force brought against two other Newport officers.

This ought to be interesting…

Tags: Civil Rights, Crazy sh*t lawyers see, Nigel Sykes

This was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2014 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.