CLEVELAND, Ohio — Derrick J. Washington's months-long fight to get his gun back from Cleveland police has moved to federal court.

Washington says in court documents that officers violated his civil rights by illegally seizing his .38-caliber Taurus and holding it since February in a case in which he was never charged. He filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in August, demanding the city return the weapon to him and pay him tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

The city appears ready to challenge the case.

In September, the case moved to U.S. District Court in Cleveland when city attorneys argued the lawsuit dealt with civil rights issues. It is pending before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth McHargh.



Washington's attorney, J. Gary Seewald, said he wants the city to return the gun before a judge or a jury renders a judgment. Seewald has asked the city several times for the weapon, only to be met with refusal. He is seeking a hearing on the issue, as he said the gun clearly belongs to Washington.

The lawsuit alleges that Washington called police about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 10 in the 2800 block of East 116th Street to report a shooting. He spoke with officers and later told them that he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The weapon was in his car, according to the suit.

He bought the .38-caliber on Feb. 19, 2011, for about $500 from Atlantic Gun and Tackle, the suit said, and he has a receipt for it. Washington also has a license to carry a concealed weapon in Ohio, according to court records. The license expires in 2016.

The lawsuit said police unlawfully searched his car and seized the weapon. He was arrested and accused of possessing a weapon while a felon and held in the city jail for three nights. But he was never charged, and Seewald says Washington does not have a criminal record, which would make it impossible for such a charge to be filed.

Maureen Harper, a city spokeswoman, said Cleveland officials do not discuss pending litigation. In a federal court filing last month, the city denied the allegations, including Washington's claim in his lawsuit that there "is no legal impediment to his ownership of a handgun.'' The filing did not go into detail about the claim.

Beginning in April, Washington attempted to recover the weapon. The suit said that in one instance, a city official told him to go "file a replevin,'' or a civil case in which a person seeks to have property returned.

The lawsuit says "it is not the policy (of the city) to return handguns legally belonging to citizens of the United States without compelling the citizen to incur the expense of litigation.''

Jeff Garvas, the president and founder of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said he has heard of several cases where lawyers have had to go to court to get an innocent party's firearm returned.

"In many cases, it is less expensive to buy a new gun,'' he said. "Sad but true.''

Michael Benza, an attorney who teaches law at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law, said authorities taking a person's property, such as a weapon, during a pending criminal investigation is not unusual.

"But they don't have a right to keep that property if it is not related to a crime,'' Benza said.