Gary Craig

@gcraig1

A Rochester police officer illegally arrested a woman who'd complained that the police were wrongly attaching a crime scene tape to her house after she reported a stabbing at a neighbor's home, a federal magistrate judge has decided.

The officer, Gregory Vasile, did not have legal reason to arrest Miriam McKnight in a July 2010 confrontation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian Payson ruled last week.

Also, Payson ruled, Vasile's provided varying statements about his encounter with McKnight. The woman's cellphone captured audio of the confrontation, which lasted all of 13 seconds before Vasile decided to arrest her. That recording "undercuts (Vasile's) suggestion that McKnight was actually interfering with Vasile's ability to secure the crime scene," Payson wrote.

"During those 13 seconds, Vasile never issued McKnight any orders that she failed to obey or warned her that her behavior could result in arrest," Payson wrote.

Payson has asked attorneys for legal papers to be filed in the next month about the possible damage amount due McKnight.

The July 3, 2010, episode started after McKnight called police after she heard of a possible stabbing in the driveway of the house of a neighbor, where a raucous party was underway. When the police arrived, she went outside, turning on the voice recorder on her cellphone.

Vasile and Sgt. Michael Nicholls were among the first officers to respond to what Vasile described as a "noisy" and "chaotic" scene with between 15 and 20 people outside two homes on Pierpont Street in northwest Rochester.

Nicholls called for more help because of the "volatile" situation, and an ambulance arrived for the stabbing victim.

Vasile began to stretch crime scene tape at the scene and was tying it to McKnight's porch when McKnight approached him, telling him that the "crime didn't happen here." In testimony before Payson, Vasile said the crime scene was next to McKnight's home and her porch allowed for a safe space to be cordoned off.

The audiotape of the interaction shows that McKnight several times told Vasile that her house was not the location of the stabbing and "this (tape) is not gonna stay here all night."

Vasile then ordered McKnight to turn around and "put your hands behind your back."

"I've had enough of this (expletive)," he said.

A struggle ensued between the two and Nicholls intervened, also trying to contain McKnight, who slipped away. He subdued her by pepper-spraying her.

Police charged McKnight with resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration. She agreed to what is known as an "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal," or ACD, and the charges were dismissed six months afterward. An ACD is dismissed if the accused commits no criminal acts during the six-month stretch.

In testimony before Payson, McKnight said she had suffered emotional injuries because of the arrest, and was now distrustful of others and was a social introvert. The confrontation led to cuts on her arms that left scars, she said.

In his reports and testimony, Vasile said he told McKnight that she was under arrest, but the audio contradicted the account. Vasile did not have legal cause to decide McKnight was interfering with his duties, Payson ruled.

"While Vasile's interest in defusing that (crime scene) volatility and securing the scene was appropriate, his actions toward the civilians at the scene — be they suspects, witnesses or bystanders — were still required to be bounded by the law and the Constitution," Payson wrote.

Payson ruled in favor of McKnight on claims of false arrest, false imprisonment and battery.

Payson ruled that Nicholls, who also was sued, did not act inappropriately because when he intervened, he likely believed that Vasile was conducting a legal arrest of McKnight.

GCRAIG@Gannett.com