Re: 5/15/01 - AP: Former Suspect Sues Police For $2M
Tuesday May 15 9:57 PM ET
Former Suspect Sues Police For $2M
WASHINGTON (AP) - A young man arrested but later cleared in the killing of a fellow deaf student at Gallaudet University is suing police for $2 million.
A lawsuit filed by Thomas Minch, 18, accuses the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department of wrongful arrest and defamation in the case, which drew national attention.
Minch was arrested last Oct. 3 and accused of killing freshman Eric Plunkett in a dormitory at Gallaudet, the nation's pre-eminent college for the deaf and hearing impaired. Police dropped the charges a day later, saying they lacked evidence.
Nevertheless, Minch remained the focus of the police investigation until February, when another student, Benjamin Varner, was killed in the same dormitory. Later that month, a third student, Joseph Mesa Jr., was arrested and charged with both killings. Police have said robbery was the motive in both cases.
Minch, who has returned to his home in Greenland, N.H., filed the lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court last Friday.
``Had this case been reasonably investigated, Mesa would have been arrested earlier and maybe a life saved,'' Minch's lawyer, Joel M. Finkelstein, was quoted by The Washington Post on its Web site Tuesday.
Police referred calls to the city's corporation counsel, whose spokesman could not be reached.
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Tuesday May 15 09:22 PM EDT
First Student Arrested in Gallaudet Death Sues Police
The first Gallaudet student arrested in the murder of a fellow student is now suing DC police.
Thomas Minch was arrested in October and accused of killing freshman Eric Plunkett. But a day later, police dropped the charges, saying they did not have enough evidence to charge him in the case.
Minch is now accusing the Metropolitan Police of wrongful arrest and defamation -- for which he wants $2 million in damages.
Minch remained the focus of an MPD investigation until February, when another student, Ben Varner, was killed in the same dorm. Later that month, a third student, Joseph Mesa Junior, was arrested and charged with killing both of them. Robbery was the motive in the murders.
At the time, Police Chief Charles Ramsey said "Minch was not involved" in the Plunkett killing. Minch, who is back home in New Hampshire, filed his suit in DC Superior Court last Friday.
Police referred calls to the city's corporation counsel, whose spokesman could not be reached.
Gallaudet, located in Northeast DC, is the nation's only liberal arts university for the hard of hearing and hearing impaired.
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