Mentor Police Department Sued (Updated)

A Mentor man has filed a lawsuit against the Mentor Police Department Tuesday in Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Wayne Kouns, 50, is asking for more than $25,000 in damages. In the suit, he claims he was the victim of wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and gross negligence.

Kouns was arrested by Mentor Police on March 23 on a charge of being a fugitive from justice.

The suit asserts that Kouns was arrested on an alleged parole violation stemming from a conviction in California, though Kouns told the Mentor officers that he was no longer on parole.

Kouns spent almost a month in Lake County Jail waiting to be extradited to California. During this time, Kouns's son died without his knowledge and he missed his son's funeral, according to the law suit.

When he arrived in California, officials confirmed that Kouns was not in violation of any parole and made arrangements for him to return to Mentor, according to the suit

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Richard L. Collins. No hearings have been scheduled yet.

Mentor Police Chief Dan Llewellyn declined to comment, deferring to the city's law director, Richard Hennig.

Both Hennig and David Patterson, Kouns's attorney, were not available at their respective law offices Thursday evening.