COUPLE SUE POLICE OVER PULASKI RAID

The lawsuit alleges that the department and its officers were
negligent in verifying information provided by a confidential
informant before staging a drug raid at the home of William and
Geneva Summers in the early hours of May 22.

Tommy Baker, the attorney representing the Summerses, said he also
plans to file a lawsuit in federal court with claims that the
couple's civil rights were violated.

Armed with a search warrant, Pulaski police arrived at the Summerses'
home on Second Street about 4:30 a.m., pounded on the back door and
then crashed into the home. William and Geneva Summers were ordered
to the ground at gunpoint while officers searched the home for drugs.
They found none.

The informant later admitted lying about drug activity at the Summers
home and was charged with two counts of providing false information
to police.

Johnny Wayne Sexton, 26, got a six-month suspended sentence on one of
the misdemeanor charges. The second charge will not be prosecuted if
Sexton pays $760 in restitution for the door broken down by Pulaski
police and other damage to the apartment. He must also be on good
behavior for a year.

"Even the most rudimentary and perfunctory investigation" by police
would have uncovered the lies, the lawsuit alleges.

"It's a legal matter that we can't comment on," Pulaski Town Manager
Gary Elander said Thursday.

Baker said the Summerses still suffer a great deal of anxiety and are
nervous about staying in their own home.

The suit asks for $600,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in
punitive damages for both William and Geneva Summers.

In addition to the town and the Police Department, the state lawsuit
names former Police Chief Herb Cooley, Detective Andy Anderson, Capt.
Eric Montgomery, Sgt. Irvin Barr and Lt. L.F. Leeper as defendants.

Anderson, who heads the department's anti-drug efforts, "lacked the
proper experience, training and education to be made chief narcotics
officer," the lawsuit alleges. It also accuses him of "publishing
defamatory statements" against the Summerses by calling them
narcotics manufacturers in the search warrant and its affidavit.

And the department's tactical response team, responsible for getting
officers inside the Summers home, also failed to follow procedure by
breaking down the door before William Summers could respond to the
pounding, according to the lawsuit.