Police car lights. Credit: Bigstock.
A former Waterbury police officer fired in 2014 after he was secretly recorded bragging about abusing suspects, was found not liable by a federal jury of violating a man’s civil rights by using excessive force.
Former patrolman Ryan Cubells was accused of striking, kicking and punching Paul Kinion after he allegedly attempted to rob a sports club in April 2011. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in 2011, claimed Kinion’s civil rights were violated and that he suffered injuries to his head, neck and face.
Former Officer Ryan Cubells. Courtesy of Waterbury Republican-American.
An eight-person jury found on Jan. 30 that Cubells, who was the subject of five separate police misconduct lawsuits, not liable. Cubells, 32, was also found not liable by juries in separate cases in November and September. Two additional cases against the former officer were also dismissed on summary judgment.
Mark Perkins said his client Cubells was a good police officer who’s being “targeted.” But plaintiffs attorneys countered Cubells is a racist who has no place on the force.
“The juries did not know that Mr. Cubells was a racist and has said racist statements,” said Ionannis Kaloidis, who represented three separate individuals in excessive-force claims against Cubells. “He talked about the KKK and lynchings on the FBI recording.” Kaloidis did not represent Kinion, but rather three other individuals who sued the officer in other cases.
Two of Kaloidis’ clients’ cases went to federal juries, which both sided with Cubells. A third was dismissed on summary judgment. Kaloidis is with The Kaloidis Law Firm in Waterbury.
Cubells was fired after he was secretly recorded by the FBI as it investigated allegations of misconduct and racism within the Waterbury Police Department, according to the Waterbury Republican-American. According to the newspaper, Cubells bragged about the abuse of suspects by fellow officers. In addition, the paper states, he made remarks that internal affairs investigators concluded left “a very strong inference” that Cubells was referring to lynching African-Americans and contained a “clear reference to the Ku Klux Klan” when he referred to Vernon Riddick Jr., the department’s first black police chief.
Perkins said his client is not racist, and made many “exaggerated claims” both about race and prior cases that were on the FBI tapes.
