Ex-officer loses civil-rights trial over police stop, frisk

A former Philadelphia police officer has lost his civil-rights trial after telling jurors he was injured when he was illegally stopped and frisked.

The federal jury in its verdict sheet Wednesday says it did not find that 51-year-old Herbert Spellman was harmed because of any rogue police work.

But Spellman’s lawyer says the panel continued to fill out the verdict form and award Spellman $20,000.

U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell has issued a memo to record the verdict as a win for city officers Brad Momme and David O’Connor.

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

Plaintiff’s lawyer Paul Messing says he plans to see if “the will of the jury can be carried out.”

Spellman says the 2013 stop aggravated back and neck injuries that caused him to leave the force in 2006.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal