Photographer sues over treatment by Durham police

DURHAM -- A freelance photographer has sued the city of Durham and two high-ranking members of its Police Department for allegedly violating his civil rights on numerous occasions.

Julian Harrison filed suit in federal District Court on Friday, alleging that he "has been harassed, assaulted, battered, unjustifiably arrested and falsely charged with crimes," all while performing his role as a journalist.

The suit is seeking actual and punitive damages from the city, Police Chief Steve Chalmers and Capt. Darrell Dowdy, as well as assurances that Harrison no longer will be harassed.

In an interview Monday, Harrison, 56, said he didn't know how much money he and his attorneys -- media law specialists C. Amanda Martin, Hugh Stevens and Michael Tadych -- would seek.

"I presume we want to make it hard enough on them financially that they'll take notice of the situation," said Harrison, who shows up at many crime and accident scenes in Durham, still and video cameras in tow.

The suit recounts seven instances where Harrison was arrested. He contends he was not trespassing or in any way interfering with the investigation any of the times he was arrested. All of the charges were dismissed.

In 1992, Harrison was arrested on the obscure charge of parking within 100 feet of a police vehicle.

In 1995, Harrison said a Durham police officer tore tendons and severely bruised his left hand while arresting him for "failure to obey a traffic officer."

The injuries took months to heal because of nerve damage Harrison sustained when he was shot while working as a journalist in Central America in the 1980s, the suit said. Harrison went to trial on that charge but was found not guilty.

The latest incident came in November, when Harrison arrived at a Target parking lot where a Durham police officer had just shot two unarmed people accused of stealing prescription drugs.

Dowdy told Harrison not to take pictures of witnesses to the shooting, according to the suit, and Harrison responded, "You are not my picture editor."

This angered Dowdy, the suit alleges. Dowdy grabbed Harrison's arm, slammed him against the hood of his car and cuffed him, according to the lawsuit.

The suit alleges he was slammed with such force it caused $500 in damage to the car.

He was taken to jail, but Magistrate Eric Van Vleet ordered the officers to release Harrison because he had not committed a crime, the suit said.

The officers then had Van Vleet call Dowdy, who tried to persuade the magistrate to jail Harrison, the suit said.

"Magistrate Van Vleet repeated that Mr. Harrison had done nothing wrong, released him and ordered the officers who were present to take Mr. Harrison back to the scene of the shooting and to return his equipment to him within 20 minutes or suffer consequences," the suit said.

The Police Department conducted its own investigation of the Target incident. According to the suit, the inquiry found that Dowdy's actions were "unbecoming an officer" and violated the department's media policies but did not rise to the level of excessive force.

Durham police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said no one at the department would comment on pending litigation.