City of Salisbury and Officer Justin Aita face fourth lawsuit, filed by same attorney

The city of Salisbury and Salisbury Police Officer Justin Aita are facing a fourth civil lawsuit.

It includes allegations of excessive force, unlawful arrest, and negligent retention, for keeping Aita employed, despite reports of violence.

The complaint was filed this week in U.S. District Court by a Salisbury woman, along with her sister, son, and friend.

According to court documents, a 17-year-old was involved in an altercation with a neighbor on Rodger Street. Documents say Aita responded to the scene, and the neighbor told him the 17-year-old cut her, so Aita placed the teen under arrest. In that process, Aita allegedly slammed him to the ground.

The court documents say when the 17-year-old’s brother, mother, and aunt intervened, they were allegedly assaulted as well.

The lawsuit also claims that two juvenile bystanders were also assaulted and arrested.

According to the police report, Aita says the 17-year-old was resisting arrest. He says the brother tried to interfere with his arrest, and his mother took hold of his baton, attempting to strike another officer at the scene.

Attorney Luke Rommel, representing the plaintiffs, says Aita is no longer employed with the department. He also says the several charges against the 17-year-old’s mother and brother were dropped in District Court.

47 ABC reached out to Mayor Jim Ireton for a comment. He provided only a brief statement saying, “You should ask Luke Rommel how much money he has made creating a cottage industry out of suing the city of Salisbury.”

As for the three other lawsuits, two of them are still pending. The case that was resolved involved Aita’s arrest of a 15-year-old boy back in August, which was ruled as an unlawful arrest.