New York, December 3 (ANI): A Bronx man has claimed that he did two days of hard time after a New York Police Department detective arrested him on a limp charge of possessing Viagra.
Peter Williams says in a Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit that he had a prescription for the little blue pills but Detective Howell Daniel "verbally threatened and harassed" him before cuffing him on charges of possession of a controlled substance.
The 56-year-old claims that he was roughed up and suffered permanent injuries in the 2011 incident.
"He was falsely arrested for having prescribed Viagra," the New York Post quoted Williams' attorney Gary Rowlins as arguing in the lawsuit filed on Monday.
Williams claims he spent four hours in a police van and two days in jail after Daniel arrested him on May 25, 2011, at 3 p.m. outside a pizza parlour where he stopped while on his way to work.
According to him, he tried to tell the detective that he had a prescription for the erectile dysfunction medication but Daniel wasn't interested in hearing his explanation of the nature of the pills.
Williams was "subjected to great physical pain, mental anguish, embarrassment, extreme shock and nervousness," charges the suit, which asks for undisclosed damages.
"The wrongful, unjustifiable and unlawful apprehension, arrest, detention and imprisonment were all carried out without a warrant or probable cause," the suit said.
According to the Daily News, a police source said on Wednesday night that Daniel arrested Williams after he saw him make a hand-to-hand exchange of the Viagra with another man.
The source also said that Williams was arrested in 2003 on charges of intent to sell crack cocaine and possession of a loaded weapon. (ANI)
