Columbia professor sues Philadelphia and decorated officer over traffic stop

Around half past midnight one Saturday in June, Marc Lamont Hill was dropping off a childhood friend in the Logan section of the city when a police car pulled up behind his black BMW.

One of the two officers in it, Richard DeCoatsworth - hailed as a hero when he survived a gunshot blast to the face in 2007 - motioned for Hill to move his car, which was stopped at 11th Street and Lindley Avenue.

Hill, 31, a Columbia University professor, author, and noted hip-hop intellectual, pointed to his friend's home, signaling that he was dropping him off, and the officers drove away.

In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday, Hill claims the June 12 encounter didn't end there. It says DeCoatsworth and his unnamed partner later pulled Hill over and searched him and his car without a warrant, violating several constitutional rights.

The encounter pits an Ivy League professor against a celebrated Philadelphia officer.

The lawsuit was filed against the City of Philadelphia, DeCoatsworth, his partner, and the sergeant and captain of the 35th District, in which the stop occurred.

Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said of DeCoatsworth Thursday night, "I've sat with him in the emergency room while they put his face together. He's a good cop. And once this lawsuit plays out, it will show that he did his job, like he does every day. He's a warrior."

The lawsuit says that after Hill's friend returned home, Hill drove down the block. DeCoatsworth then pulled Hill's car over and refused to tell him why he was stopping him, according to the filing.

Hill claims DeCoatsworth searched his pockets without a warrant, then pulled him out of the car by his left arm.

DeCoatsworth pushed Hill into his car, according to the lawsuit, and told him not to move or "he was going to jail." DeCoatsworth then pressed his left fist into Hill's back, causing him pain, the suit alleges. DeCoatsworth asked Hill whether he could afford the BMW and then went through Hill's checkbook, the suit alleges. Hill claims DeCoatsworth then questioned him about his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania while the other officer searched his car.

During the stop, according to the suit, that officer told Hill he was being stopped for "illegal discharge of a passenger and blocking the street."

When the search came up empty, the lawsuit says, DeCoatsworth told Hill to "get out of this neighborhood and go home," letting him go without a citation.

In his lawsuit, Hill claims the officers "intentionally used excessive force . . . which was unreasonable, unjustifiable, and unconstitutional."

Hill also says the violations "were the result of the city's policies, procedures, customs, and practices of allowing its officers to make stops without reasonable suspicion, and to use unreasonable and excessive force, thereby violating the civil rights of those with whom they come into contact."

Hill referred The Inquirer to his attorney, who is his older brother.

"It's a constitutional violation of an American's right to travel peacefully," Leonard Hill, a managing partner of Hill & Associates, said of the traffic stop. "He was stopped illegally. He was frisked illegally. He was stripped of his dignity. To ask him how he could afford his car, to look at his checkbook, and to ask him to explain what's a Ph.D. is just ridiculous."

Marc Lamont Hill, a former Temple University professor, grew up in Philadelphia and lives in Germantown. According to his website, his research work covers "hip-hop culture, politics, sexuality, education, and religion."

He serves as a regular political contributor for Fox News and CNN, and in fall 2009 joined the faculty of Columbia University's Teachers College as an associate professor of education.

"In the round-up," Leonard Hill said, "you will get people you didn't expect to round up, and that's what happened to Marc."

Marc Lamont Hill should have a trial date for his lawsuit within 90 days, his attorney said.

On the force just four years, DeCoatsworth, 24, has experienced a barrage of violence.

As a rookie in the 16th District, he suffered a shotgun blast to the face in 2007 during a traffic stop in West Philadelphia. Badly injured and bleeding, he chased his attacker two blocks. Lauded as a hero, DeCoatsworth received the National Association of Police Organizations' Top Cops Award. In February 2009, he sat next to Michelle Obama during the president's address to Congress.

Two months later, DeCoatsworth, now a member of the Highway Patrol, got into a struggle with a mentally troubled Logan man. His gun went off, wounding the man, who was later killed by a backup officer. That September, during a traffic stop in Kensington, DeCoatsworth shot an 18-year-old man in the left leg after the man tried to run him over with his motorcycle.