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Even at 81 years old, Don R. Ickes of Bedford County is continuing to pursue a civil lawsuit against several area police officers whom he claims roughed him up during a traffic stop nearly six years ago.
"All I want is justice," Ickes said upon receiving notice that the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia agreed to hear his appeal from the U.S. District Court's ruling last August dismissing the lawsuit.
Ickes was buoyed by the 3rd Circuit's ruling that stated he has presented enough evidence to warrant a hearing, thereby rejecting a petition by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office asking that Ickes' appeal be dismissed outright.
The 3rd Circuit order was issued Monday by Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie and was agreed to by judges Cheryl Ann Krause and Michael A. Chagares -- the panel that will hear the appeal.
The attorneys for the officers, Mary L. Friedline and Timothy Mazzaca, have until Tuesday to file their legal brief outlining reasons why the court should uphold the August ruling by U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson of Johnstown.
In a phone interview, Ickes pointed out how stressful the situation has been over the last six years.
He was convicted and placed on probation by Blair County Judge Daniel J. Milliron for refusing to cooperate with police on July 18, 2011, during the traffic stop.
He then did time in prison as the result of a subsequent confrontation with a Blair County probation officer and police.
Ickes was asked why at age 81 he continues to pursue the lawsuit despite the problems that his confrontation with police has caused for him.
"I want to clear my name," he said.
Then he added, "They are doing it to other people," referring to the overuse of force by police.
The Ickes story began as he was spotted by a state police trooper allegedly driving 70 mph through a construction zone on I-99.
Ickes refused to stop for the trooper and finally turned off I-99. He pulled his vehicle into a residential driveway along state Route 3013.
The trooper noticed something odd about the license plate on the Ickes vehicle and became concerned when Ickes "flashed" his driver's license against the passenger side window, but in a manner that prohibited the trooper from reading it.
Ickes refused to unlock his door and get out of his vehicle.
Other officers, including two state police detectives and a Greenfield Township patrol officer, arrived.
The detective in charge recognized Ickes as someone he had dealt with before and ordered the trooper to forcibly remove Ickes from the vehicle. The trooper broke the passenger side window and, as Ickes claims, the trooper and the Greenfield Township officer pulled him from the vehicle, put him on the ground and tightly handcuffed him.
The license plate, according to the police affidavit, was bogus, having been issued by an Oregon group called "The Embassy of Heaven."
The group, according to Gibson's opinion, believed that "Grownups have been tricked into obeying the laws of humbugs, rather than the laws of God."
In 2013, Ickes brought a civil lawsuit against the state police troopers, Craig Grassmeyer, Barry Augnst and Thomas Laskey and the former chief of the Greenfield Township department, Ronald Givler.
Ickes was charged in Blair County with 14 traffic violations and resisting arrest.
Gibson ruled that police acted reasonably in their extraction of Ickes, pointing out a subsequent medical exam at Nason Hospital in Roaring Spring showed no injuries, although Ickes complained of chest pains that night.
Ickes claimed the cuffs were so tight they caused his arms to bleed.
Gibson, in his opinion, stated,"(Ickes) has presented no evidence of conduct that was of an extent likely to lead to anything other than de minimis injury … that such de minimis injuries do not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment violation when the conduct is justified by the officers' need to effectuate a safe arrest."
The judge concluded the police action "did not constitute an overwhelming show of force."
He also pointed out the officers were protected from civil liability by "qualified immunity."
Also, civil charges were dismissed against Givler, noting he was not even on duty the night of the incident. A Greenfield Township patrol officer was present but was never mentioned in the lawsuit.
The attorneys for the officers contended the Ickes appeal should be dismissed outright because it did not properly address the judge's decision on the excessive force charge.
The judges stated … "we are satisfied that he has adequately raised this claim for our review."
The police lawyers also raised a statute of limitations argument on the excessive-force claim, but that was rejected by the 3rd Circuit panel because it had never been mentioned in the lower court as an appeal issue.