Arlington Police Respond To Federal Lawsuit On Wrongful Arrest

ARLINGTON, MA — Both the Town of Arlington and the Arlington Police Department are responding Friday to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Donovan Johnson, who claims he was wrongfully arrested as a Black man and pinned to the ground at gunpoint while police were pursuing a white man.

Read more: Lawsuit Claims MA Officer Chasing White Man Wrongly Arrested Black Man

Town Manager Sandy Pooler and Chief Flaherty jointly said, "The Town of Arlington Police Department is committed to providing equal and fair justice to all its residents and visitors. It trains its staff to administer justice without regard to race and conducts ongoing training in diversity, equity, and inclusion."

Both acknowledged the complaint but said the Town had not yet been served with the suit and only became aware of the suit from a press release and media inquiries. The police department said they were "previously aware of the allegations made by Mr. Johnson and had retained the services of an outside, licensed private detective to conduct an investigation to determine if the officers violated any APD policies, procedures, rules or regulations."

The suit claims Johnson was walking home in Arlington after leaving work in February 2021, when court documents say a white officer chasing after a white suspect ran up to Johnson, shoved him his gun and threw him to the ground by his head. The lawsuit claimed Johnson's constitutional rights were violated when he was attacked in the first place.

The complaint claims Arlington officers engaged in inappropriate conduct toward Johnson during the pursuit of a criminal suspect, including racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other actions - despite having no evidence that he was involved in any crime.

Arlington Police say a thorough review was conducted by an outside investigator, involving interviews of the officers, clips, incident reports, policies, procedures, and radio transmissions.

According to police and town officials, "The investigation found no evidence to support a claim of racial profiling or excessive use of force. The investigator did find that officers violated some department policies, and as a result of the outside investigation, three officers were disciplined, one officer and the sergeant received mandatory re-training and the sergeant received remedial supervisor training. The third officer later left the department."

"Additionally, four specific recommendations were given regarding training, re-training and policy revisions that were relevant to all members of the Arlington Police Department," Flaherty said. "All of the recommendations were implemented without delay. The independent investigator's report was released with minimal, legally-required redactions only."

Arlington Police Chief Flaherty said he pledges transparency throughout this process.

AP interviewed one of Johnson's attorneys, Mirian Albert of Lawyers for Civil Rights, who told them that she hopes the case will bring systematic changes to eradicate racial profiling practices in the department.

"All people should feel safe in their own communities. Mr. Johnson's rights were violated within view of his home and this is exactly the type of police misconduct that fuels the mistrust between communities of color and law enforcement," AP reported Albert saying.