Hostages, city of Neenah discuss settlement of lawsuit alleging mistreatment by police
NEENAH - A federal lawsuit brought against the city by hostages who were caught in a 2015 standoff and shooting between a gunman and Neenah police at Eagle Nation Cycles has been assigned to a magistrate judge for mediation.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021 in U.S. District Court in Green Bay, alleges Neenah police treated the hostages as criminals rather than victims. The plaintiffs claim officers intentionally and unlawfully detained them as they exited the business. They are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Walter Stern, a Kenosha-based attorney for the plaintiffs, requested mediation in a Jan. 24 court filing.
"After discussion between counsel, the parties in the above matter would like to pursue mediation in an attempt to come to a mutually acceptable settlement of the civil rights action," Stern wrote.
U.S. District Court Judge William Griesbach granted the request and assigned the case to Magistrate Judge James Sickel, who scheduled a mediation and settlement conference for 10 a.m. March 14.
Sickel directed the plaintiffs to, by Feb. 27, submit a written settlement demand to the defendants with an explanation of why such a settlement is appropriate. He also directed the defendants to, by March 3, submit a written offer to the plaintiffs with an explanation of why such a settlement is appropriate.
"On occasion, this process will lead directly to a settlement," Sickel wrote.
The Neenah Finance Committee and the Neenah Common Council will meet in closed session Wednesday to discuss the authorization and parameters of a possible settlement.
Stern and City Attorney David Rashid declined to comment on the developments in the case.
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Michael Funk, Ryan Moderson, Ethan Moderson, Steve Erato, Mike Petersen and George Fuerte were inside Eagle Nation Cycles on Dec. 5, 2015, when Brian Flatoff took hostages at gunpoint in a dispute over a motorcycle.
Neenah police stormed the building but were driven back by gunfire from Flatoff. Minutes later, Funk escaped from the building and, without warning, was shot and killed by officers Craig Hoffer and Robert Ross.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice determined Hoffer and Ross mistakenly, but reasonably, thought Funk was the armed hostage-taker and an imminent threat when they saw him with a handgun. Neither officer was charged with a crime.
Flatoff was sentenced to 100 years in prison after he was convicted of 14 felonies, including two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
At a press conference in 2021, Stern said the hostages "were stereotyped as being part of a gang, not a business."
Stern said within two minutes of shooting Funk, police learned they had shot a hostage and not the hostage-taker, yet they didn't change their approach. The lawsuit says officers pointed guns at the hostages, handcuffed them and placed them in custody for various periods of time, causing "pain, emotional anxiety, depression, PTSD and other physical and emotional trauma justifying an award of compensatory damages."
Stern pursued two other actions to hold Neenah police accountable for their actions. He asked the Winnebago County District Attorney's Office to investigate whether criminal charges against Hoffer and Ross were warranted, and he filed a complaint with the Neenah Police Commission alleging Hoffer, Ross and other Neenah officers violated department policy.
"They were all denied," Stern said. "The lawsuit is what's left."
Two previous cases involving Eagle Nation Cycles have been decided in U.S. District Court. The first was a $50 million lawsuit alleging Neenah police used excessive force during a 2012 drug raid at the business. The second was a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Funk's widow, Theresa Mason-Funk. Both were dismissed by Griesbach, and the Mason-Funk dismissal was upheld by a federal appellate court.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah police, Eagle Nation Cycles shooting hostages talk settlement
