Lawsuit Accuses Needham, Police Of Racial Bias

NEEDHAM, MA — A man who was arrested and later cleared of shoplifting charges filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday accusing the town of Needham and the Needham Police Department of racial bias during the January 2020 incident at a CVS store.

In his complaint, Marvin Henry, 37, of Boston, said police did not read him Miranda rights, searched him without asking, left him handcuffed outside the store for more than 30 minutes, and publicly humiliated him. The charges were dropped in September after police said surveillance video at the store on Highland Avenue did not show Henry, who works in Needham, entering the store.

Patch has asked Needham officials for comment and will update this story when they respond.

In January, an internal investigation cleared the five officers involved in the arrest on four of the five allegations raised by Henry's attorneys last summer. Needham selectmen accepted the report in March. "As a result of the above findings, the Department has undertaken the appropriate action where applicable," Lt. Christopher Baker wrote in the one-page, Jan. 11 letter to Henry's attorneys.

Henry, who works in Needham, did purchase an iced tea and cough drops in the store on his way to work, but presented a receipt when police responded to a shoplifting call at the store. Henry did not match the description of the suspect, who entered the store with a woman. Henry was alone when he went to the store.

Henry is accusing the department of violating his Fourth Amendment rights by conducting an illegal search. In the complaint filed Tuesday, Henry said the only feature he shared with the description of the suspect is that both men are Black. He also said one of the responding officers openly mocked him, while another refused to give him his badge number.

Henry's complaint claims he was forcibly pushed up against his car; the department's internal investigation said that allegation of excessive force was "not sustained."

Henry is asking for unspecified damages and attorney fees. He also wants injunctive relief, including bias training for police officers and an order for the town to remove the internal investigation and other documents about him from the town's Website.

The five officers under investigation were Leo Schlittler, Colin Fitzpatrick, Sgt. Andrew Cray, Nicole McMahon, and an officer who was not mentioned by first name in the original arrest report, Kelleher. Leo Schlittler is Needham Police Chief John Schittler's brother.