Ford City Borough Council agreed to a settlement that will pay Roch Mantini $50,000 in return for him dropping his lawsuit against the Borough.
Ford City Borough has reached a settlement with business owner Roch Mantini from an incident on November 15, 2017.
According to court documents, Mantini was leaving work at approximately 9PM. He was stopped by a Ford City police officer. He alleges the officers “forcefully threw” Mantini against his vehicle repeatedly prior to handcuffing him. The legal document said “Both officers threatened to bounce Mr. Mantini’s head off the pavement.”
Mantini also alleged that he was accused of using heroin and was given three breathalyzer tests. The officers then threw away the tubes into a gutter. He was taken to the hospital for blood tests, and subjected to harassment by police officers.
A suit filed in U.S. District Court sought unspecified financial damages since none of the accusations were founded.
Borough Solicitor Alysa Golfieri announced last night that Mantini and the Borough had reached a settlement.
“A settlement has been reached. This is pending litigation in Federal Court. The insurance carrier for the Borough is handling it through their Insurance Defense Counsel. Council was apprised of the settlement that had been reached during executive session last week,” she said.
At last night’s council meeting, all five councilpersons voted to authorize payment to Mantini in the amount of $50,000. Councilman Marc Mantini abstained in voting due to his family relationship with Roch Mantini.
In a similar time frame, the Ford City Police Department received multiple complaints from various organizations in town stating that their patrons were specifically being targeted. Mayor Jeff Cogley met with the organizations and also with the police chief.
“That’s all gone. There has been change,” Cogley said. “What was going on at that time was not to my knowledge. I sat and talked with the organizations. We are a better community now than what we were.”