[OH] Stalking victim of then-Officer Jesus Sanchez, Sara Long, wins lawsuit against the City of Lorain for tolerating it's bad cops

The city of Lorain reached a settlement Friday with a woman who had accused the city of ignoring the sexual misconduct of its police officers, including one who was convicted of stalking her. Sarah Long will receive $175,000 under the agreement...

Previous posts:

• [OH] Sarah says police ignored her fear of Officer Sanchez  - ...During the trial, Long said she had complained about Sanchez harassing her to several officers after she first met him in 2000, including to her neighbor, Capt. William Engle, but nothing was ever done. Instead, she said, Sanchez continued to pull her over, call her on the phone, stop by her house and shine a spotlight from his cruiser on her home...
• [OH] Wife of convicted Lorain police officer rented a billboard so citizens will know who to cal - ...Marsha Sanchez said the billboard has nothing to do with her husband, who has yet to be sentenced...
• [OH] Ex-Officer Jesus Sanchez gets only 60 days - His victim is mad - Sanchez's Victim: ..."I'm very disappointed... I wrote in my calendar that 'Justice Day' was today. I feel that justice wasn't served... You laugh, point and tease as if you were being tried for stealing a candy bar... For nearly a decade, I've been living in a prison in my home, my heart and in my mind"...
  

LAWSUIT SETTLED FOR $175,000: LORAIN MUST PAY WOMAN FOR POLICE OFFICER’S SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
The Morning Journal
By Kelly Metz
Saturday, January 16, 2010
[Excerpts] The lawsuit filed by Lorain resident Sara Long accusing the city of ignoring sexual misconduct among its officers was settled for $175,000 in a Cleveland federal court yesterday, according to Long's attorney, Michael Duff. U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster ordered the lawsuit be moved forward in mid-December when he wrote in the opinion that because there are more than 10 cases involving sexual misconduct among the city of Lorain's police officers, a jury could determine the city has been "indifferent" toward sexual acts among residents and police officers. Duff said the judge ordered the city of Lorain to pay $75,000 out of the city coffers, and $100,000 will be paid by the city's liability insurance. He added he and Long are pleased to have the suit behind them. "(Sara) is happy that the matter is concluded, and it proved our point that the city was at fault," Duff said. "It showed what we intended it would show all along, and that's a good thing"... Long filed the complaint against Lorain police officer Jesus Sanchez on Sept. 4, 2002, after Sanchez kept pulling her over and touched her inappropriately several times. A predisciplinary hearing took place shortly after and Capt. Robert Davey, "found Sanchez guilty of all charges," Polster wrote in his decision. Long filed the lawsuit in 2005 with five complaints against Sanchez and three against the city, stating the city failed to properly supervise the officer, among other complaints. Sanchez was found guilty in 2008 by the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas on one count of menacing by stalking, but not guilty on the other, Polster wrote... Sanchez served 60 days in jail, was placed on probation for two years and resigned from the police department... [Full article here]

LORAIN SETTLES LAWSUIT AGAINST POLICE FOR $175,000
Chronicle-Telegram
Filed by Brad Dicken
January 16th, 2010 in Top Stories.
[Excerpts] The city of Lorain reached a settlement Friday with a woman who had accused the city of ignoring the sexual misconduct of its police officers, including one who was convicted of stalking her. Sarah Long will receive $175,000 under the agreement, her attorney, Mike Duff, said... Duff said although the city didn’t formally apologize to Long for what happened to her, the money she’ll receive speaks for itself. “They apologized 175,000 times,” he said. Long sued the city in 2005, claiming that then-Officer Jesus Sanchez stalked her in 2001 and 2002 and that the city and police leaders ignored not only what Sanchez was doing, but also the sexual misconduct of other officers. Sanchez, who is now retired, was convicted in 2008 of stalking Long and spent 60 days in the Lorain County Jail. Sanchez settled Long’s claims against him years ago in exchange for an affidavit that he filed in the case detailing the alleged sexual antics of various police officers... [U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron] Polster listed numerous incidents detailed during the deposition of Police Chief Cel Rivera that the judge said could lead a jury to conclude that Sanchez thought he could get away with stalking Long because other officers, who accounted for about 10 percent of the department, weren’t severely punished for their actions over the years... The city also was in the middle of a lawsuit against its insurance carrier, United National Insurance Co., contending that the company was refusing to cover the costs of the city’s legal defense in the Long lawsuit and wouldn’t pay a claim if the city lost at trial. That lawsuit also ended Friday as part of the settlement, Duff said... Duff said the settlement is fair. “We’re happy it’s over and I think they paid a fair price for the policy they had in effect and the behavior they tolerated,” Duff said. Long was among those interviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice during a visit to the city in August as part of an ongoing federal investigation into allegations of excessive force leveled against members of the Lorain Police Department. Lorain police union President Buddy Sivert declined to comment on the settlement, and Rivera did not return a call seeking comment... [Full article here]
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