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Cleveland police officer Aaron Petitt, seen here testifying in a trial in 2013, is not immune from an excessive-force lawsuit, an appeals court ruled Monday.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a Cleveland police officer does not enjoy immunity from a lawsuit that says he forcibly removed a driver from his car and slammed him on the back windshield during a traffic stop.

Judge Ronald Lee Gilman, writing for a three-judge panel, wrote that the actions of officer Aaron Petitt may have constituted excessive force when he took action against Sagamore Hills man Reginald Folks during a traffic stop in 2012.

Petitt ticketed Folks for driving with a suspended license during the stop, a charge that Folks denied and was later dismissed, the opinion says.

"None of the traditional excessive-force factors weigh in Petitt's favor. He stopped Folks for a minor civil infraction, and Folks was compliant and non-aggressive," Gilman wrote. "Petitt nevertheless pulled Folks from his vehicle and slammed him against his back windshield, causing injuries to his head, neck, and face."

The appeals court's ruling upholds a decision Cleveland federal Magistrate Judge William Baughman made in May. Both refused Petitt's attempts to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that his actions during the stop, which happened at Chester Avenue near East 79th Street, were immune because he used a reasonable amount of force in an arrest that only caused minor injuries.

Both courts said a jury should decide the case.

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. He was suspended for nine days.

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.

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