Hunter
07/12/22
A Coralville man who lost his apartment and job due to a reported wrongful arrest will receive a settlement from the cities of Iowa City and Coralville for damages.
The Gazette reports that Anthony Watson sued the two cities as well as Iowa City officer Travis Graves and Coralville officer Jeff Reinhard for negligence, false arrest, false imprisonment, and other allegations.
The incident that caused the suit occurred December 16, 2017. Watson was at the Iowa City Casey’s on the corner of Market and Dubuque when he was approached by officer Graves, who was investigating a reckless driver incident. Watson was asked to perform field sobriety tests, which he passed. Officer Graves then involved Officer Reinhard to perform a drug use evaluation at the ICPD.
The evaluation determined Watson was under the influence of marijuana, and officers arrested him for OWI first offense. Watson was on parole for a previous offense, and was jailed pending trial.
A criminal charge was filed by the Johnson County Attorney’s Office on January 9th the following year. Watson’s urine test came back negative for any drugs in his system on February 1st 2018, however. He was finally released on March 6th and the county dismissed charges on April 9th 2018.
Watson’s suit said he lost his apartment and job because of the jailing, and didn’t get treatment needed for a brain injury. He had a seizure while in custody and reportedly wasn’t taken to the hospital. He eventually was admitted to the UIHC and treated for brain damage.
The $390,000 settlement will be split, with the Iowa City City Council expected to approve their part of the settlement at its meeting today. The city of Coralville is expected to approve their portion of the settlement as well.