Guatemalan’s civil case of police brutality heads to trial

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The trial of a federal lawsuit filed by a Guatemalan man alleging police brutality and prosecutorial misconduct is scheduled to begin this week in Connecticut.

Santos Morales says two police officers and two state prosecutors violated his civil rights in 2008 case when he was arrested on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm related to an incident at a Stamford restaurant.

Morales says officers shot him with a stun gun and kicked him after he obeyed their orders to drop a gun that he says he wrestled away from another man.

The trial is scheduled to start Wednesday in Bridgeport. The defendants — Officers Richard Phelan and Andrew Czubatyi and prosecutors Steven Weiss and Mitchell Rubin — deny Morales’ allegations. The officers say Morales resisted arrest.

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