“That is when the assault began. All of the Season’s Pizza employees participated in punching, kicking and pouring hot soup over my body. I was unarmed and defenseless and had to suffer a brutal beating by all of the employees of Seasons Pizza.” Restaurant from hell? A customer who’d complained about a cold pie once too often? Not exactly. That’s the description Nigel Sykes provided the court in his lawsuit after attempting to rob Seasons Pizza in Newport, Delaware back in 2010. Sykes is something of a jailhouse attorney. He’s currently serving 15 years for the attempted Seasons armed robbery plus a bank hold up. But back in 2013, apparently having not much else on his dance card, he filed suit against all of the Seasons Pizza employees (as well as two local cops) who were there that fateful night . . .
Sykes admits entering Seasons with a gun intending to rob the joint. But one of the employees tackled him while the others disarmed him. And then, if you believe his story, they went to work on him.
As
delawareonline.com notes,
Sykes also claims in his suit, filed without an attorney, that after the employees subdued him, two Newport police officers improperly used stun guns on him and denied him access to medical attention.
Normally lawsuits like this are tossed out after a brief review by the court. And while U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson tossed out several of Sykes’ claims, she allowed the case to move forward against the pizza employees, two arresting officers and Seasons.
This is actually the second time Sykes has tried to sue the cops and employees. The first attempt was thrown out on procedural grounds. It seems that Sykes then boned up on his civil procedure enough to give it another go and impress Judge Robinson this time.
Sykes demands $20,000 each from six Seasons employees, $20,000 from each of the two arresting officers and $100,000 from Seasons.
As you might imagine, no one’s terribly happy with Judge Robinson’s decision. Newport Police Chief Michael Capriglione said it best.
“It is a joke lawsuit. It is sad to see this kind of suit being looked at. The court shouldn’t waste the taxpayers’ money.”
