Christopher Pate, a victim of assault by a Rochester police officer, has launched a lawsuit against the city, police department and seven of its police officers.

Former Rochester police officer Michael Sippel was fired by the department following a misdemeanor assault conviction. The charges stemmed from an incident in 2018 in which Sippel and his partner, Spenser McAvoy, stopped Pate, who they claim matched the description of a burglary suspect. 

Pate, 37, said Sippel and McAvoy ripped off his bookbag, tased him and punched him in the face after he was asked to show his ID. Pate suffered a fractured eye and broken jaw as a result.  The incident was captured on body camera video and made public in July.

Last fall, a grand jury decided to drop charges against McAvoy, but felt the evidence against Sippel was enough to charge him.

Court paperwork filed on Pate’s behalf Monday lays out eleven areas where defendants allegedly failed to stop the assault. The suit accuses the officers of falsely arresting Pate, violating his fourth amendment rights due to a "warrantless arrest without probable cause" and excessive use of force, assault, and malicious prosecution.

It also takes aim at Sippel and McAvoy’s supervisor, Sgt. Eric Weigel, who allegedly went to the scene and did not intervene in the arrest.

Pate's attorney Mark Foti alleges that the assault would not have happened if Sippel was “subject to insufficient vetting and evaluation.” According to Foti, Sippel was a lateral hire from the New York Police Department and therefore not required to go through a screening process or psychological exam. It also accuses the city and RPD of failing to “provide probationary review or sufficient evaluative meeting” and “sufficient field training.”

The filing continues, “There is no mechanism within RPD in place to automatically review the dismissal of defective accusatory instruments in order to improve training of individual police officer and/or the RPD as a whole.”

Pate is seeking the amount of punitive damages.

City officials refused to comment due to pending litigation.

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