Federal lawsuit claims wrongful arrest, false statements by Collier County Sheriff's deputies

A man who had charges dropped after a December 2017 arrest has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against Collier County.

He claims that sheriff's office deputies made a wrongful arrest, used excessive force and knowingly made false statements.

The lawsuit was filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on behalf of Fabiano Pinto, who was arrested Dec. 17, 2017. He was arrested outside of Cavo Lounge at the Mercato in North Naples on charges of disorderly intoxication and felony battery of a law enforcement officer. 

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Pinto is seeking punitive and compensatory damages for 15 violations of his civil rights protected by the First, 14th and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit specifically names Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and deputies Matthew Kinney, Joshia Campolo, Adam Dillman, Steve Maholtz, Frank Pisano, Becki Thoman, Jay Mulholland and James Byers as defendants.

SLR Naples, which operates Cavo Lounge, owner Stergios Tallides and Buro were also named in the lawsuit.

Pinto was arrested and accused of striking Kinney, who claimed to be intervening in a confrontation between Pinto and Jason Buro, an employee of Cavo Lounge.

Kinney claimed to see Pinto swing at Buro's face and when Pinto was being escorted away, he punched Kinney in the chest. As deputies attempted to lead Pinto to a patrol vehicle, they alleged people were attempting to grab and jump on them.

Pinto's version of events disputed Kinney's account.

He said Buro struck his hand while he was trying to signal friends and family in Cavo Lounge about securing a table at another restaurant.  

As Pinto walked away, he said Kinney struck him, forcing him to stumble into his sister-in-law. In the course of events, Pinto said he reactively raised his right arm, which made accidental contact with Kinney's bullet-resistant vest.

Pinto claimed deputies used an excessive amount of force in placing him under arrest, leading to physical pain in his shoulders and arms. Pinto also complained to deputies about the tightness of the handcuffs more than 15 times but his comments were ignored for one hour until they were removed. Pinto reported numbness in his fingers for three days as well as swelling, redness and lacerations to his wrists. 

Along with the accusations of wrongful arrest and excessive use of force, the lawsuit alleges the charges were "predicated on the false, misleading or incomplete information forwarded by the defendants." 

Ten months after the criminal charges were filed, the state attorney's office dropped its prosecution efforts while in the process of deposing witnesses.

In case notes obtained by the Naples Daily News through a public records request, assistant state attorney Garrett Cutler wrote that the deposition of Kinney "does not match the surveillance footage."

After writing that Kinney approached Pinto from 20 feet away, Cutler described Kinney as spearing Pinto and driving him through the crowd.

"This does not represent (victim's) testimony in (deposition), where he said he stepped in between (the defendant) and the manager he was talking with, separating them," Cutler wrote.

Cutler also wrote that the video could not confirm or deny that Pinto struck Kinney and that it was plausible that Pinto was unaware Kinney was an officer given how quickly it happened.

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The lawsuit also contends the county was negligent in the hiring, supervision and retention of the deputies and several supervisors failed to intervene by approving the arrest.

Legal counsel Chief Michael Hedberg issued a statement to the Daily News defending the actions of the deputies.

“We are limited in what we are able to say at this time due to the active lawsuit, but after an initial review we do not believe our deputies’ actions were inappropriate," Hedberg said. "We trust in our justice system to make a fair determination in all court proceedings.”

Attempts to reach representatives of Cavo Lounge were not immediately successful.