A Clarks Summit man wrongly suspected of killing a state police trooper and wounding another in the Blooming Grove barracks ambush was forced from his mother's home at gunpoint and questioned for hours before being released, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

Jeffrey Hudak says he was traumatized by overzealous troopers, who arrested him based on pure speculation because his estranged wife reportedly had a relationship with Trooper Alex T. Douglass of Olyphant, who was wounded in the Sept. 12, 2014, sniper attack that killed Trooper Bryon K. Dickson II of Dunmore.

"While the Pennsylvania State Police were understandably emotional and angry ... they unfortunately ignored, trampled and violated the plaintiff's rights during their zealous and emotionally driven pursuit of the actual person responsible," Mr. Hudak's attorney, George Reihner of Scranton, says in the lawsuit.

Police also damaged Mr. Hudak's reputation by releasing his name and photograph to the public and by tipping off members of the news media, the suit says. News stories about his arrest are still available online.

Mr. Hudak was taken into custody about 12 hours after the man authorities now say was the real culprit — Eric Matthew Frein — opened fire on Cpl. Dickson and Trooper Douglass from a wooded area across from the state police barracks in Blooming Grove.

Mr. Frein, who is charged with first-degree murder and multiple other offenses and pleaded not guilty, remained on the lam for 48 days before he was captured near an abandoned airport hanger in Monroe County. He is jailed at the Pike County Correctional Facility awaiting trial in Pike County Court.

In the hours after the shooting, authorities focused on Mr. Hudak. In an "incredible and threatening display" of force, a barrage of police officers surrounded his mother's Scranton home and demanded he come out with his hands up. He was handcuffed immediately and thrown into the back of a police cruiser without being told why he was being arrested, the suit says.

He was taken to the state police barracks in Dunmore, where Corporal Benjamin Clark and Trooper Kyle Hnat intensely questioned him for hours, refusing his request to see an attorney and initially preventing him from using the bathroom or making a phone call, the suit says.

The suit names Corporal Clark and Trooper Hnat as defendants, as well as four other troopers whose identities are not yet known. It does not name the state police as a defendant.

Contacted Thursday, Trooper Adam Reed , spokesman for state police in Harrisburg, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The suit alleges police did not have probable cause to arrest Mr. Hudak as their suspicions were based on the belief he committed the acts because his wife, from whom he was separated for about 18 months at the time, was allegedly in a relationship with Trooper Douglass.

"This ... accusation, gross innuendo and/or rank speculation — bereft of any supporting fact, evidence and/or detail whatsoever — does not and cannot form the basis for probable cause," the suit says.

Mr. Hudak was interrogated for about six to eight hours as authorities worked to verify his whereabouts at the time of the shooting, Mr. Reihner said in a phone interview Thursday.

"It was very intense. They were accusing him of murder and attempted murder. He said his heart was beating out of his chest," Mr. Reihner said. "Everything he told them turned out to be 100 percent accurate, but they kept him in custody even after that."

Even after he was released, police continued to follow him for about three days, Mr. Reihner said.

Mr. Reihner said his client was traumatized by the experience and is still undergoing counseling. The lawsuit seeks damages for one count of unlawful seizure/wrongful arrest/false imprisonment.

Contacted late Thursday, Capt. Christopher Paris, commanding officer of Dunmore-based Pennsylvania State Police Troop R, said the state police do not comment on pending litigation. Trooper Douglass could not be reached for comment.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com, @tbeseckerTT on Twitter