New civil suit filed against embattled constables

Mar. 16—A fifth civil lawsuit was filed in federal court late last week against two Pulaski County constables who are also facing criminal charges.

The joint criminal trial of District 5 Constable Michael "Wally" Wallace and District 4 Constable Gary Baldock is scheduled for June 14 at the U.S. District Court in London. Both men are charged with Conspiracy Against Civil Rights and Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine.

A separate trial is scheduled for July involving Baldock on two charges he faces alone: Attempted Murder of a Federal Agent and Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

Since being charged, Wallace and Baldock are also facing a host of civil lawsuits — the latest of which was filed Thursday by Covington-based attorney Christopher D. Roach on behalf of plaintiffs Timothy E. Jones, David Jones, and Robert Chad Brown.

The allegations put forth by the three plaintiffs aren't connected to each other beyond their involvement with constables Wallace and Baldock. This lawsuit also names other local officers whom the plaintiffs say were also involved.

In the case of Timothy E. Jones, the complaint stems from his arrest on September 30, 2018, by Wallace, Baldock, and a third constable, Eric Strunk, who has also been named as a co-defendant. Jones was charges on five drug-related counts stemming from a 911 call he had made in regard to a verbal domestic dispute.

Timothy Jones claims that while Baldock and Strunk kept him in the front room, Wallace conducted an illegal search of the bedroom. Both he and his girlfriend were arrested, with the lawsuit claiming that Wallace had placed items seized on a bed so that the constables could say they had been found in plain view.

The lawsuit further states that Jones was held in custody for three months until his release for failure to indict. In December 2018, Timothy Jones filed for the return of $9,500 and his truck taken during the search — at which point the constables secured an indictment against him. The charges were formally dismissed on March 13, 2020 — a week after Wallace and Baldock were taken into custody by federal authorities.

"Timothy Jones only ever received $6,600 back from the assets seized, the amount that Wallace registered, which is less than the actual amount taken and the amount listed on the citation and police reports," the complaint states, adding that Jones didn't get his truck back until April of 2020.

In the case of David Jones, the lawsuit claims that Wallace, Baldock and Somerset Police Officer Andrew Salmons — also named as a co-defendant — used a key obtained from the apartment manager to gain entry into the apartment of a woman David Jones was with during the early morning hours of October 2, 2018. They had a search warrant for an individual that, according to the lawsuit, neither knew.

The three officers conducted a search of the apartment but made no arrests that night. However, the lawsuit claims they did take a number of the woman's prescription pills as well as $826 in cash belonging to David Jones with them.

The lawsuit states that David Jones was arrested in November 2019 — more than a year after the initial incident. His charges were also dismissed on March 13, 2020. The plaintiff claims that the loss of the money seized as well as $200 he had to post for bond led to him losing his residence.

In the case of Robert Brown, the lawsuit claims that he was pulled over by Wallace and Baldock on February 3, 2019, as he was arriving home from some errands. The complaint further states that two of Brown's friends witnessed the constables "pull a container from the back of their car, place some drugs in an apple pie box, and throw it in Mr. Brown's car." Brown was arrested with the charges ultimately dismissed on March 16 of last year.

"Prior to the dismissal, Defendants Baldock and Wallace harassed Mr. Brown by contacting his landlord, by continuing to frequently pull him over without probable cause, and questioning his attorney to ask if he was working with the FBI," the lawsuit claims. "At one point Defendants Wallace and Baldock pulled Plaintiff over for DUI and threatened to handcuff him to the bumper and shoot him in the head claiming that he was an undercover FBI agent."

Brown's portion of the complaint also names Pulaski County Sheriff's deputies Logan Starnes and Ryan Jones as co-defendants. The deputies, according to the lawsuit, were backing up another deputy who had pulled over Brown's girlfriend on May 3, 2020. Brown had been a passenger in the vehicle and fled, believing he had a warrant out for his arrest — wading out into a pond to elude capture.

The lawsuit alleges that when Dep. Starnes took Brown into custody, he "escorted Mr. Brown to the shallow end of the pond and threw Mr. Brown face first into the water while Mr. Brown was handcuffed behind his back."

When Brown was able to stand, according to the lawsuit, Dep. Jones used his taser on him while shouting, "quit resisting." After being forced back underwater, Brown was ultimately carried out by his handcuffs and feet.

"Upon information and belief, peace officers are trained to not pick up a suspect by their cuffs because it is likely to result in injury to the suspect," the lawsuit states, adding that "Brown suffered a broken or smashed nose, bruises, lacerations, a torn rotator cuff, and torn staples from a hernia repair surgery as a direct and proximate result of the assault by Defendants Starnes, Jones, and other unknown officers."

The complaint accuses Wallace, Baldock, Strunk and Salmons with malicious prosecution; Wallace, Baldock, Starnes and Jones of First Amendment retaliation; Starnes and Jones with using excessive force; and all defendants of civil conspiracy to violate plaintiffs' civil rights.

The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

Responses from the defendants have not yet been filed.