Boone Co. Couple Alleges False Arrest In Federal Lawsuit

By Mike Perleberg (Boone County, Ky.) - A lawsuit accuses three deputies with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office of making a false arrest. Donald and Melissa Covington filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on Monday. Demanding a jury trial, they are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, legal feeds, and interest. They allege that last February 26, three deputies came to their home to serve an arrest warrant on their 24-year-old son for unpaid court fines. According to the lawsuit, when the Covington’s questioned deputies about the warrant, they were also placed in handcuffs. “(The deputies) misrepresented what the warrant was for and when Melissa questioned them, the Deputies grabbed her and arrested her. When Donald asked why the Deputies were arresting his wife, they grabbed him, pulled him out of his home, and arrested him in his underwear,” the couple’s 11-page complaint states. The Covingtons were charged with disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail. In their lawsuit, the couple asserts that they did not resist arrest, engage in violent or threatening behavior, or make unreasonable noise. “The deputies later charged Melissa and Donald Covington with disorderly conduct even though Melissa and Donald were not in public when they were arrested and they did not disturb any of their neighbors,” said their attorney, Al Gerhardstein. “Melissa and Donald spent a sleepless night in jail and had many more sleepless nights worrying about the implications of the arrests on their lives.  Melissa and Donald bring this lawsuit for damages and to discourage Boone County Sheriff Deputies from abusing their arrest powers in the future.” The couple agreed to enter and completed a diversion program in which they completed 20 hours of community service, paid court costs, and were not convicted of a crime. Among the deputies named in the lawsuit is Tyler Brockman, who shot and killed Samantha Ramsey when she struck him with her car in 2014. Gerhardstein said “Tyler Brockman’s erratic behavior on the night he shot Samantha Ramsey was again on display when he arrested Melissa and Donald Covington for no apparent reason.” The lawsuit also names as defendants deputies Wesley Mackey and Jonathan Ball, Boone County Sheriff Michael Helmig, and Boone County, Kentucky.