Woman claims cops illegally held her

BRIDGEPORT - A young Bronx, N.Y., woman claims a Bridgeport police officer illegally held her in custody without charges for more than a week before releasing her.

Charity Finch, 19, filed suit Wednesday in federal court against Officer Angel Rivera seeking unspecified monetary damages for false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.

Her lawyer, Robert Berke, declined comment on the lawsuit. City officials did not return calls for comment.

Finch had previously been arrested in New York in 2014 on minor charges, according to the lawsuit, and released on her own recognizance with a future court date.

On Dec. 8, 2014, she was arrested here by Rivera on a fugitive from justice warrant out of New York. At the time of her arrest Finch presented Rivera with paperwork showing her future court date and that she had been released however, the suit claims Rivera ignored her and took her into custody without verifying the information with New York authorities.

Two days later, the suit states that the Bridgeport Police Department received a fax from New York authorities that they were not interested in extraditing Finch. The Police department did not notify the State Attorney’s Office of this information and prosecutors did not learn of it until they were presented the information by Finch’s grandmother, the suit states.

Finch remained in custody until Dec. 19, 2014, when prosecutors dropped the fugitive case against her, the suit states.