Robert Buckeye, Wayne State University English instructor, falsely arrested along with his wife, Nancy, during the January 24 “narcotics” raid while visiting the home of one of his ex-students, is filing suit against the City of Detroit, Ray Girardin and six policemen.
The suit, based on personal damages suffered by Buckeye both to his person as well as his academic career, was filed last week by Attorney Albert Best, and asks for $350,000 damages.
The suit asserts that Buckeye and his wife were held for 19 hours, illegally, by the police before being released. No charges were filed against them.
Attorney Best has called the damage to Buckeye’s reputation “enormous” and accused the police of handling the raids in a “sloppy” manner.
Said Best, “Suspicion is not grounds for arresting a person and placing him under the humiliation of being arrested.”
Buckeye has refused to comment about the suit.
In other developments regarding the raids, the 24th of January Movement met March 4 to discuss further legal moves against the police. Attorney Dennis James spoke to the group that had formed to defend those arrested.
Briefly James described the possibilities of civil suits that might be filed against the Police Department for the forty-seven false arrests made during the Great Raid.
John Sinclair demanded that the police return all the materials they ‘liberated’ from the Workshop including six copies of the Fugs’ Songbook and copies of GUERILLA.
James agreed that the police had no right to seize any of the books and is preparing a motion to have Recorder’s Court issue a release of the ‘detained’ property; the property included an etching belonging to Allen Van Newkirk which, according to expert police botanists was an actual unretouched depiction of a marijuana plant.
Attorney James was joined by fellow attorney William Segesta and who agreed to take up suit against the police department, but commented that “while the law respects property rights” it was quite restrained in suits involved with crimes against human dignity.
One of the strongest possible cases for a suit was discussed; this being the case of Ron (Anarchy) Frankenberger, who was arrested at 4825 John Lodge when the police burst in without a warrant, searched everyone on the premises and arrested Frankenberger for possession of the vile contaminator—merry/jew/wana.
Results of the 1 March examinations in Recorder’s Court found Norm Weingarden, John Nagel, and Mike Knight bound over for trial, while the examinations of Marlene Croghan, Don Moye and John Sinclair were postponed until 21 March.