A couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against two Youngstown police officers, as well as the City of Youngstown for allegedly harassing them and violating their civil rights.

According to a press release from Valley attorney Dave Betras, officers Tyl Srbinovich and Ivan Thomas allegedly called the victims, Heriberto Gierbonlini Ortiz and his wife Wanda Diaz, one of whom is a landlord of a rental home on West Chalmers Avenue on December 3, 2022 ordering them to meet them at the property.

According to the lawsuit, the officers were at the home with a former tenant who has lived there for three weeks and "irreparably" damaged brand-new carpeting.

Following this, the lawsuit alleges that the former tenant vacated the property with no warning without paying rent and left the lights on and the toilet running, so the landlord canceled all utilities except for the gas, which was in the Ortiz's name, and changed the locks.

The lawsuit states that while the property was vacated, the landlord decided to make repairs and stayed in the house for a few days. The tenant never returned to the home and canceled the gas utility during this time which the lawsuit states "clearly communicated her absolute intent to vacate the property."

The lawsuit alleges that the tenant came back December 3 and tried to force her way back into the property prompting the call from police.

In the lawsuit, Betras states that a property dispute such as this is a civil issue and the police involvement should have ended there, but instead, the suit alleges that the officers ordered the Ortiz to open the door, which Betras argues they had no authority to do.

"At this point, Defendants Srbinovich and Thomas were already engaged in the unlawful conduct of playing civil judge, and they were ordering Ortiz to take
actions without lawful authority," the suit reads.

Nevertheless, Ortiz let the officers into the property to show them that the tenant had no belongings left there, but the suit claims that the officers told him that mail addressed to the tenant was still inside.

"Anyone who understands mail knows that mail forwarding is not an immediate process," the suit reads.

Following this, the suit alleges that the two officers ordered Ortiz and Diaz off the property so the former tenant could take possession of it, which the landlord strongly objected to demanding both officers and the tenant to leave the property.

According to the suit, when the two officers asked if Ortiz had any weapons, he peacefully removed a pocket knife from his pocket and put it on the couch, which the suit claims created no threat to the officers.

Nevertheless, the suit alleges that the officers still treated Ortiz like a threat. At this point, Ortiz asked Diaz to start recording the interaction on her cell phone.

According to the suit, the officers began unlawfully searching Ortiz followed by throwing him to the floor, twisting his arms, putting weight on his back and pointed a taser "point blank" at his heart.

The suit claims that Ortiz suffers from congestive heart failure and that the officers withdrew the taser once they realized they were being recorded.

Following this, the suit alleges that the officers picked the landlord up off the floor, handcuffed him on the couch and twisted his arms. The suit further alleges that the officers ignored pleas from both Ortiz and Diaz to stop and that the cuffs were on too tight.

The lawsuit lists numerous other allegations of excessive force following this including one alleged instance where the officers threw Ortiz into the patrol car chest and headfirst causing him to break several of his teeth.

After being admitted into a hospital, the suit claims that Ortiz was cuffed to a bed for five days and was not allowed to call anyone regarding his status and was mocked and yelled at whenever he asked questions or requested assistance.

The suit goes on to discuss the police report on the incident, which the suit claims makes no mention of any search warrant or suspicion of any crime and states that the former tenant was the owner of the property.

"The Incident Report does not state how Defendants Srbinovich and Thomas even determined that Rios would have a right to enter property to which she did not
have keys," the suit reads.

“In the 38 years I have been practicing law I have never seen a more shocking or egregious abuse of police powers. Srbinovich and Thomas’ conduct was inexcusable and illegal, which they knew and is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the incident report they filed is an absolute work of fiction intended to cover up their deplorable behavior," Betras said in a news release.

21 New reached out to the Youngstown Law Department which said they had no comment regarding pending litigation at this time.  

The full lawsuit can be read below.