Fayetteville has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the city brought forth by Sheila Lee, who alleges she was illegally detained, harassed and injured by Fayetteville police officers in an incident outside her home on Christmas Day three years ago.
The complaint, which was filed Dec. 22, alleges the officers “brutally and without justification, severely injured Ms. Sheila Lee, a 56-year-old African American woman” on Dec. 25, 2020.
According to court documents, on March 19 the city filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the complaint and to pause discovery, or the pretrial gathering of information between parties, until the court rules on the dismissal motion. The motion focuses on the city’s governmental immunity and the individuals’ public official immunity, which are legal protections that protect municipalities and city employees from being sued for wrongdoing in certain cases unless they waive their immunity.
However, the government can be sued for violating a person’s Constitutional rights, which is what Lee is arguing happened.
The dismissal motion comes as the Fayetteville City Council has voted to provide lawyers for all defendants in the case, including the former police officers.
At the council’s March 14 meeting, in a 9-0 vote, council members approved legal representation to Detective Molly O’Hara and former Officer Richard Rodriguez, as well as Mayor Mitch Colvin and former Police Chief Gina Hawkins, who are also defendants in the suit. (Colvin was absent at that meeting and did not vote.)
In addition, the council voted to petition the Cumberland County Superior Court to authorize the release of body camera footage of the incident. State law says police body camera video may not be made public without permission from a Superior Court judge.
At Monday’s meeting, the council voted 9-1 to provide legal representation for three additional police officers, Sgt. Don Bell, Detective Krista Zentner and Detective Ashley Wolford. Council Member Mario Benavente, who voted against the measure, told CityView after Monday’s meeting that he voted against the representation because the motion did not include a similar request to provide body camera footage of the incident.
Lee is seeking reimbursement for damages, coverage of costs associated with the lawsuit, punitive damages and “all such other relief as this Court deems just and proper,” according to her lawsuit. She is suing the defendants both individually and in their official capacity as city employees.
The case is the latest instance of Fayetteville police officers being sued for alleged police brutality. Another recent federal lawsuit of this nature against the city is still open. It was filed in October 2022 by Ja'Lana Dunlap, who alleges she was assaulted and unlawfully detained by Fayetteville police officers in a September 2022 incident.
City’s case for dismissal
The city’s argument for dismissal on the grounds of government and public official immunity coincides with the North Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, which revived a case against the city of Fayetteville and a Fayetteville police officer, in which the officer struck and killed a pedestrian in 2018 while on duty. The state Supreme Court argued the Court of Appeals didn’t apply the right legal analysis as to whether governmental immunity applies.
In Lee’s case, the city is arguing for public official immunity to dismiss her claims against the police officers in their individual capacity. Public official immunity can only protect officials from personal liability in “certain kinds of civil claims, provided the officials did not act maliciously or corruptly,” according to the UNC School of Government.
In addition to arguing for governmental and public official immunity, Fayetteville’s attorneys argue that:
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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