Man injured in South Side brawl with police sues city, detectives

A man involved in a brawl with police in a South Side bar is suing the city of Pittsburgh and three of its police officers.

Frank DeLuca, 38, of Greenfield, filed a federal lawsuit alleging the detectives used excessive force and falsely imprisoned him.

"They deprived him of his civil rights and, in doing so, exercising excessive force. They injured his elbows, both of the elbows. The left elbow was fractured. The right elbow was badly dislocated," said DeLuca's attorney, James Depasquale.

He said his client wants the facts to be put out on a judicial record for the public to see what happened.

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"I saw that tape from 7:30 in the evening when those four police officers started drinking, (from) 3:24 until 11:40 in the evening, whenever Mr. DeLuca and his friends went into that bar, those officers were so drunk and so obnoxious," Depasquale said.

DeLuca and three other members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club were in Kopy's Bar on Oct. 12 when they got into an argument with police that escalated into a physical confrontation.

He and his companions were charged with assault after the brawl, which authorities initially said the Pagans started while detectives were on a drug investigation.

But the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office later dropped the charges as allegations surfaced that the detectives had been drinking heavily for hours before DeLuca entered the bar. Witnesses also said the police, not the bikers, instigated the confrontation.

The FBI has taken over the investigation into the detectives' actions.

DeLuca is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.