Meaghan M. McDermott

@meagmc

A Rochester teen whose arrest while waiting for a bus on East Main Street a little more than a year ago sparked local outcry and drew national scrutiny has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Rochester and the Rochester Police Department.

The suit, filed on Dec. 23 in state Supreme Court, alleges that the arrest of Raliek Redd on Nov. 27, 2013, is part of a larger pattern of unconstitutional policies, practices and customs within the police department. The suit alleges frequent "contempt of cop" arrests, made solely to punish defendants for not being sufficiently deferential to arresting officers.

And the lawsuit alleges there's a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into whether criminal charges ought to be filed against the individual officers involved in Redd's arrest.

Attorney Elliot Dolby-Shields, representing Redd's mother, Crystal Chapman, said the teen was interviewed by federal agents in connection with the matter in August. He said his clients have also provided investigators with materials including surveillance videos that captured the arrests. He did not know the current status of the case.

Redd, now 17, was one of three teens arrested around 8:40 a.m. Nov. 27, 2013, near East Main and Stone streets. All three were members of the Edison Tech High School's varsity basketball team and were at their bus stop waiting for transportation to a scrimmage that day at Aquinas High School.

Dolby-Shields said the teens were arrested even though surveillance video shows they complied with police requests to move along and had already twice moved a little further down the street to wait for the bus when they were arrested for disorderly conduct.

Ultimately, the charges were dismissed when District Attorney Sandra Doorley declined to prosecute.

According to the suit, Redd was subject to "unlawful stop, seizure, detention, search, false arrest and false imprisonment" by police. And, the suit says, Redd was not read his Miranda rights when he was arrested.

Chapman said she opted to file the lawsuit in the interest of justice.

"What happened to my son happens all too much in our community, and I don't want this to happen to anybody else's children," she said. "My son should be focused on picking out his colleges, but he's still dealing with this. He doesn't feel safe downtown anymore. It's important I speak out because I am my son's voice; he is just a child."

The suit seeks unspecified damages, court costs and attorneys' fees.

Representatives from the city of Rochester could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.

MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com

twitter.com/meagmc