Wild Greg's Saloon's owner sued Pensacola for false arrest - and lost
Wild Greg's Saloon owner Greg Urban lost a lawsuit this month he brought against the city of Pensacola, alleging he was falsely arrested in 2018.
Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Jan Shackelford dismissed the lawsuit in a 24-page ruling that said Urban's May 2018 arrest, where he was charged with obstructing an officer without violence, was not a case of false arrest.
Urban was acquitted on that charge in August 2018, and in 2019, sued the city of Pensacola and the police officers involved in his arrest.
Background of the case
In February 2018, Pensacola police officers were investigating an alleged battery at Wild Greg's by a bouncer, and Urban told police there were no security camera recordings of the incident because police had already confiscated the club's security system's DVR a month earlier to investigate another assault.
Police, while investigating another assault allegedly committed by the bouncer and the former Wild Greg's manager, discovered that the club had rented DVR equipment, and evidence of a February 2018 battery was indeed captured by the club's security cameras.
The bouncer and manager were charged and arrested as well and fired from Wild Greg's. The bouncer's charge was dismissed when he completed a pre-trial diversion program and the manager pleaded no contest and the judge in the case withheld an adjudication of guilt.
Related: Judge throws out case against Wild Greg's owner for concealing surveillance video
The police working the cases believed that Urban had lied to them about the existence of security camera footage and asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant for obstructing an officer without violence. Urban was then arrested.
Urban was acquitted on the charge in August 2018 when Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Frydrychowicz threw out the charge after the prosecution had put on its case, ruling the prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence that Urban knew what he told police wasn't true at the time.
Five-year lawsuit
Urban filed suit in 2019, and after almost five years of motions and depositions, the case was set to go before a jury in April 2024, according to court documents. But before the trial began, the city filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing the case should be dismissed as a matter of law.
Shackelford held a hearing with both sides on March 28 and ruled for the city and canceled the trial. Shackelford issued her written opinion on May 8.
Shackelford wrote even if Urban's statements were made in good faith, they had the effect of obstructing a police investigation by cause officers to believe no video of the alleged battery existed.
"(Urban's) statements, viewed objectively, would lead a reasonable law enforcement officer to believe that Plaintiff (Urban) intended to mislead and obstruct law enforcement's investigation by inferring that there was no video of the alleged battery because '[the police] have our camera system' and '[the police] never gave it back,'" Shackelford wrote.
Shackelford also ruled that because probable cause existed to issue the arrest warrant and the warrant was legally valid, the police officers who arrested Urban had immunity from any claims of false arrest or false imprisonment.
Shakelford said that whether Urban knew that someone within his organization had replaced the security camera DVR was important in the state's criminal case, but it had no bearing on whether there was probable cause to issue an arrest warrant.
"While Plaintiff's (Urban's) argument may have helped carry the day at his criminal trial, it is unavailing here," Shackelford wrote. "Reviewing (the police officer's) bodyworn camera footage, it cannot be disputed that Plaintiff's words conveyed the message that surveillance video footage of the alleged battery did not exist — which was untrue."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Wild Greg's Saloon's owner sued Pensacola for false arrest and lost
