The estate of an east Columbus man who died after a Whitehall auxiliary police officer threw him on a concrete floor has sued the city and a retailer in federal court.
The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District for Southern Ohio, claims 43-year-old Alexander Menhenett went to the Walmart, located at 3657 East Main Street, in January to buy a space heater.
Whitehall auxiliary police officer Kyle Schneider was working special duty at the store at the time.
A store employee told Menhenett that the self-checkout area was closed.
The employee instructed Menhenett to leave and called store security saying a drunk customer wouldn't leave.
The suit claims Menhenett was an alcoholic, and it also says he slurred his words and wore a hearing aid because of injuries be suffered in a 2001 car accident. The suit also says Schneider thought Menhenett was intoxicated.
According to court documents, Schneider used a leg sweep and threw Menhenett over his hip head first to the floor while trying to arrest him. As a result, Menhenett hit his head on the concrete floor.
Menhenett was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he died five days later. Court records say the Franklin County Coroner’s Office determined Menhenett's cause of death was blunt force trauma with skeletal and brain injuries.
The suit alleges Schneider used excessive force.
Records state Schneider had a history of disciplinary issues while he worked for the Sharon Township Police Department, "which reflected an overzealous desire to be involved in what he felt was exciting police action even when his conduct was dangerous or violated established policies and procedures of the Sharon Township Police."
The suit claims violations included Schneider's responding to calls outside of Sharon Township's jurisdiction without being asked.
The suit also lists off duty services, which says Schneider was employed as a special duty officer at the Walmart store.
Menhenett's estate is asking for at least $75,000 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, attorney fees and costs.
Whitehall City Attorney Brad Nicodemus told WOSU on Thursday that his office had not received the complaint and couldn't comment.
