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Cleveland police officer Aaron Petitt, seen here testifying in Cleveland Municipal Court in 2013, is the subject of an excessive-force lawsuit brought by a Sagamore Hills man.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal magistrate judge on Monday gave the go ahead to a Sagamore Hills man pursuing a lawsuit against a Cleveland police officer that he says used excessive force on him during a baseless arrest.

Magistrate Judge William Baughman wrote that Reginald Folks "has shown more than enough evidence" for his case to proceed against officer Aaron Petitt, and that the officer is not immune from Folks' claims.

Folks sued Petitt and other unnamed officers in 2013 for an October 2012 traffic stop on Chester Avenue near East 79th Street. Folks said in his lawsuit that Petitt arrested him after he questioned why he was receiving a ticket for driving with a suspended license.

The charge was later dropped.

Folks said Petitt pulled him and twisted his arm, punched him in the eye and slammed his head against the car. He also said that Petitt and another officer forced him into a patrol car, even after his foot got wedged in between the car's seats.

Baughman dismissed several parts of Folks' case, including his claims of being punched and being forced into the patrol car, but wrote that a jury should decide whether Petitt used too much force for Folks' other claims.

The judge wrote that " ... a reasonable officer in Petitt's situation would have been on notice that there is no warrant in the law for slamming or pushing a non-violent, co-operative detainee, stopped for a non-violent offense and where events were not fast-moving or confusing, face-first into a windshield."

A city spokesman did not provide a response to Baughman's ruling.

Petitt was the subject of a 2013 internal investigation after he and officer John Sanderson were accused of disobeying a direct order from a sergeant and went to help an off-duty officer working downtown.

Police records sent by Folks' attorney show that he was suspended for nine days for the incident.

He also shot and killed a 29-year-old Cleveland man in 2009 after coming to the aid of bounty hunters. Petitt shot the man after the man stabbed him in the foot and hit him with a board.

Cleveland.com has asked the city for Petitt's personnel file. The city has not fulfilled the request.

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