(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . LaPorte City man sues police after a series of encounters with officers • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1] ['Clark Kauffman', 'Ariana Figueroa', 'Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- May', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-05 A LaPorte City man who has been engaged in a long-running dispute with the police department is now suing the city for malicious prosecution and false arrest. John Grote, a 44-year-old Black Hawk County truck driver, is suing the City of La Porte as well as officers Garrett Husmann and Nicholas Hall and Police Chief Christopher Brecher in federal court. Grote alleges that on June 21, 2022, he was sitting inside his car outside a La Porte City business where Husmann was conducting a routine check and standing outside his patrol car. According to the lawsuit, the two exchanged words, and Grote made a comment suggesting that he believed Husmann was bribing someone. Grote alleges he continued to ask Husmann questions as the officer turned and walked away, and the conflict escalated. The lawsuit alleges that Husmann turned back toward Grote, pointed at him and said, “Raise your fist at me and see what happens. I am going to drag you out of the car and take you to jail.” That marked the end of the exchange, Grote alleges, but two days later Husmann arrested Grote for assault on a police officer. In his arrest report, Husmann reported that Grote had used his own vehicle to block Husmann’s patrol car and then began asking the officer questions about a criminal case of some kind. The officer reported that when the discussion escalated, Grote “became very angry that I had pointed at him and took his seat belt off and climbed halfway out of his window. (Grote) then raised his left arm with a closed fist as if to punch at me … This encounter was captured on my body camera.” A jury later acquitted Grote of the charge of assaulting a police officer. Court records show that on Nov. 16, 2023, Hall arrested Grote for disorderly conduct, alleging that Grote “told me to go f— myself and called me a stupid pig while inside of Casey’s General Store.” Grote challenged the arrest, claiming his statements were protected by the First Amendment. The state then agreed to dismiss the case. According to the newly filed civil lawsuit, in April of this year, Police Chief Brecher called Grote and then left him voice mails and sent him emails indicating he wanted to meet with him discuss a possible “agreement” they might reach that would cause the chief to refrain from writing Grote a ticket for reckless driving – a charge that would impact Grote’s ability to work as a truck driver. On April 22, the lawsuit claims, Grote met with Brecher for 45 minutes at the La Porte City Police Department where the chief allegedly told Grote that “things were escalating” between Grote and his officers and he accused Grote of following the officers and yelling at them when they passed by. Brecher allegedly told Grote that he wanted “peace” and that if Grote did, too, the department would not cite him for reckless driving and would only him cite for him driving on the wrong side of a highway. “I’ve got a year to charge reckless driving,” the chief allegedly told Grote. “I would like you to leave the officers alone … Stop yelling at them, stop shouting at them, let them do their job.” The meeting allegedly ended with Brecher citing Grote for driving on the wrong side of a highway on March 18, 2024. That charge is still pending. Grote’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for alleged violations of his constitutional rights, false arrest and malicious prosecution. The city has yet to file a response. Court records show that in August 2018, La Porte City police arrested Grote for harassment of public officials. Police alleged he had been taunting city utility workers, asking them if they were “still on lunch,” and that Grote was shouting profanities at the mayor. Grote later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of honking his car horn at the city workers. [END] --- [1] Url: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/briefs/laporte-city-man-sues-police-after-a-series-of-encounters-with-officers/ Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/