Edmonds Police, City Sued Over Dui Arrest -- Man Says He Was Sick, Not Drunk

EDMONDS - An Edmonds man who claims he was suffering from hypoglycemia when he was arrested for drunken driving in 1993 has filed a federal lawsuit alleging Edmonds police officers used excessive force and wrongly arrested him.

The suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks unspecified damages from the city of Edmonds, its police department and the two officers who arrested him.

Don Herman, 64, was stopped by police in April 1993 after making a U-turn on Highway 99. Herman alleges Edmonds Police Sgt. Mark Marsh ignored his explanation of his medical condition and grabbed his hair, twisted his arm behind his back and threw him to the ground face-first.

Herman says he suffered a separated shoulder, cuts and bruises.

He also alleges that Officer Warren Lee pinned him to the ground by grinding his knees into Herman's back, causing more bruises.

Herman subsequently was charged with drunken driving and resisting arrest, but a jury acquitted him in September 1993.

Marsh said yesterday that he couldn't comment on the suit because the case was pending. But two lawyers representing the city of Edmonds, Anne Bremner and Ted Buck, called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said they planned to ask a judge to dismiss the case this week.

"(Herman) was rightfully pulled over and rightfully arrested that evening," Buck said. The lawyers declined to discuss the details of the case.

Herman and his lawyer did not return phone calls yesterday.

In his lawsuit, Herman said he had not eaten for several hours prior to the arrest and was fatigued, disoriented and weak from hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

Herman said he had two alcoholic drinks several hours before his arrest but was not intoxicated. He alleges Marsh ignored a "medical alert" sticker on his driver's license indicating he suffered from hypoglycemia.

David Steiner, a lawyer who represented Edmonds in Herman's criminal trial, said Herman failed two field sobriety tests and registered a 0.15 on two blood-alcohol tests, more than the legal limit of 0.10. The jury acquitted Herman because the blood-alcohol tests were suppressed on a technicality, he said.

Steiner said evidence showed that Herman tried to walk away from the scene and struggled when he was arrested. Marsh dislocated his shoulder during the struggle, Steiner said.