CRIME

Lawsuit against Collier County Sheriff's Office alleges wrongful arrest, battery, retaliation

Devan Patel
Naples Daily News

A man who got into an altercation with the wife of a Collier County deputy at a Dunkin Donuts is suing the sheriff and two deputies, alleging retaliation by the agency when it arrested him last year.

The lawsuit says deputies falsely arrested Joseph Carpiniello, including using excessive force, for breach of peace and resisting an officer after he and deputy Adam Hall's wife got into a verbal altercation over a parking spot on July 15, 2019.

The five-count complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleges wrongful arrest, battery, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Carpiniello is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Rambosk, Hall and Spina and attorney's fees.

Collier County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Karie Partington provided the Daily News with the following statement: "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. We trust in our justice system to make a fair determination in all court proceedings."

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

An attorney for Carpiniello has not responded to requests for comment.

Carpiniello stated he was waiting for a parking spot to open up when Elizabeth Hall pulled in ahead of him. After parking his vehicle, Carpiniello flipped his middle finger to her and went into the restaurant.

Carpiniello said he was waiting at the counter when she began to harass him, leading to an employee to get between them. 

More:Analysis: Most Florida officers disciplined for excessive force kept their jobs

According to the arrest report, the employee told deputies about stepping in between them after stating that Carpiniello was continuing to yell at her.

Carpiniello said Hall's wife told him about her husband's job before calling him, which was corroborated by the employee's statement to deputies. 

When Carpiniello tried to leave, Hall's wife began taking pictures of his license plate.

Deputies located Carpiniello's car parked five blocks away at a gas station shortly afterward. As he walked across the parking lot, Carpiniello said Spina was attempting to get his attention before grabbing his shirt and pushing him "several feet into a display of bottled water cases stacked up against the side of the store."

More:Sheriff's office did not investigate deputy whose statements did not match surveillance

He said Hall joined in and slammed him so hard against the display of water that it caused the cases of water to collapse and fall to the ground.

Partington confirmed to the Daily News that Hall did respond to the call.

Deputies arrested Carpiniello on breach of peace and resisting an officer charges and transported him to the Naples Jail Center. 

The state attorney's office declined to file charges two weeks later, court records show.

In the case notes, obtained through a public records request, the state attorney's office found multiple issues with pursuing charges.

"Based on surveillance video from Dunkin Donuts, provided by defense counsel, the elements of breach of peace are nowhere close to me," assistant state attorney James Stewart wrote. "Video seems to be somewhat inconsistent with (the) statement given by civilian witness Elizabeth Hall. She appears to be every bit as confrontational as (the) defendant."

Stewart also wrote that the case was complicated because "witness' husband is a CCSO deputy who decided to get involved in (the) incident."

Connect with reporter Devan Patel: @DevanJPatel (Twitter) or devan.patel@naplesnews.com