Riebel

Riebel

Pair allege false arrest, say cop laughed after terrified wife urinated her pants

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A Plains Township couple accuses two West Side police officers of violating their civil rights during a January 2020 arrest that involved excessive use of force, torture, and intimidation tactics, with one officer laughing at the injured wife after she urinated in her pants.

Daniel and Lisa Etzle in a federal lawsuit claim Nicholas Riebel, then working for Larksville Borough Police Department, assaulted the married couple and then executed an “extremely violent arrest,” for which they were later fully acquitted.

The pair claim Riebel allegedly conspired with Plymouth Borough Police Department officer Raymond Glova to “charge the Etzles with crimes without probable cause in order to cover up the use of unreasonable force they had used or were responsible for.”

The Etzles also allege that while Glova witnessed the assault, he did nothing to intervene or stop his fellow officer.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on the couple’s behalf by Theron J. Solomon of Wilkes-Barre law firm Dyller & Solomon.

Efforts to contact Larksville Borough and police officials, and Plymouth Borough solicitor Michael R. Kostelansky, were not immediately successful. Efforts to contact the officers individually also were unsuccessful.

According to Larksville Borough Council records, Riebel resigned from his position on April 2, 2020; the reasons were not stated in published online minutes.

Allegations described

According to the suit:

On Jan. 28, 2020, the Etzles’ daughter, Lyndsey Rydzfski, called them to Vision Quest at 301 West Main St. in Plymouth. Rydzfski was having a a monitored visit with her children when a disagreement began with the foster family. Rydzfski called her parents to come assist her.

On their way to Vision Quest, Lisa Etzle called 911 and requested assistance. Morgan Lewis, a security guard at Vision Quest did the same.

Glova and Riebel arrived at the facility, where Lewis asked them to remove Rydzfski from the premises.

Lisa Etzle “worked with and knew the foster parents so she tried to intervene,” the suit states. “Officer Riebel immediately began screaming at Mrs. Etzel and escalated the situation.”

Riebel then grabbed her, and shoved her into a wall and proceeded to push her down a hallway towards the exit, which he pushed her through, using her body to open the door, the suit states.

Daniel Etzle asked why Riebel was assaulting his wife, at which point Riebel jumped up to grab him by the neck, which caused Etzle to fall outside and onto the ground.

“Officer Riebel was now on top of Mr. Etzle and was choking him,” the suit states.

Lisa Etzle began to shout at Riebel that her husband had just had surgery.

“Mr. Etzle complied with the arrest. Yet Riebel still used force on Mr. Etzle.”

Riebel continued to kneel on Daniel Etzle’s back after he was handcuffed, the suit states. Lisa Etzle continued to scream at the officer to get off her husband, at which point Riebel reached up and pulled her to the ground, causing her to hit her head and arm on the concrete.

Glova then took Lisa Etzle into custody.

Intimidation, urination

According to the suit, Riebel and Glova then “screamed at Mrs. Etzle and intimidated and terrified her,” even as she was bleeding from her arms and had a head injury, and Glova “did not intervene in any way to prevent or limit the use of force” by Riebel.

“Mrs. Etzle was so scared at this point that she urinated in her pants,” the suit states. “Officer Riebel laughed at and made comments at Mrs. Etzle because of the urination.”

The Etzles were then taken to the Plymouth Borough Police Department, where they were held without formal charges for hours, “purportedly because they were waiting for the judge,” the suit states.

The complaint alleges that the Etzles were held simply as a matter of continuing the intimidation and torture, noting that “in fact, in Luzerne County, there is a magisterial district judge ‘on call’ 24 hours per day to handle matters like this.”

Daniel Etzle was then charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, which would have him facing up to three years in prison plus fines. Lisa Etzle was charged with the same as well as obstruction and faced up to five years in prison and fines. The complaint alleges these charges were baseless and part of a conspiracy to cover up the police brutality endured by the Etzles.

The Etzles were acquitted of all charges on Apr. 29, 2021 in a trial before President Judge Michael T. Vough, the complaint states.

Because of that acquittal, police affidavits containing the officer’s account of the arrests are sealed and unavailable to the public.

The Etzles’ 12-count lawsuit claims civil rights violations, assault and battery which led to injury, false arrest and imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The Etzles are seeking unspecified damages to be determined at trial.