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Another Lawsuit Against State Police Over Trooper Shooting Investigation

GREENTOWN — A local veteran is the second person to file a federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania State Police after the shooting of two troopers at the...
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GREENTOWN -- A local veteran is the second person to file a federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania State Police after the shooting of two troopers at the Blooming Grove barracks in 2014.

He claims he was treated like a suspect and held illegally for almost four days, even though he had nothing to do with the crime.

The lawyer for Donald DeLade of Wayne County says it was OK for troopers to question him the day after the Blooming Grove shooting. But he says state police roughed up DeLade, then illegally kept him in custody for days for no good reason.

12 hours after an intense manhunt for the sniper who shot two troopers at the Blooming Grove barracks, police thought they got their first break.

At the time, troopers told Newswatch 16 the car of Donald DeLade stopped outside his mother's home at Skyview Estates in Greentown was driven by a person of interest.

Jean Campbell who lives nearby will never forget it.

"It was just crawling with policemen. Of course, they told us, 'Just move on. Move on,'" Campbell recalled.

About an hour before this stop, police say another neighbor saw DeLade carrying a rifle retrieved from his broken down truck.

People living near in and near Skyview Estates say the whole neighborhood was on edge.

"It was crazy and everybody was tense, just not knowing what was going on," said Louise Mease.

"It was something like we'd never been through before," Campbell added.

DeLade's lawyer says in their search for the sniper, state police trampled on his client's rights, stopping his car, ordering DeLade and a passenger to get on the ground, and pointing the barrel of their rifles inches away from their heads.

DeLade claims he told police he owned a couple of rifles including one that was in the trunk of his car. That's when, according to the lawsuit, state troopers started high-fiving each other saying, "We have our guy. We have our killer."

Then, according to the suit, state police detained the war vet on an unrelated arrest warrant from Florida.

The suit claims troopers asked Florida authorities to upgrade DeLade's warrant to full extradition, "for the sole purpose of giving the Pennsylvania State Police a legal basis to hold (DeLade) for the murder of Trooper (Bryon) Dickson and the attempted murder of Trooper (Alex) Douglass."

Florida officials refused to upgrade the warrant on DeLade, saying they had no intent of extraditing him for a 2013 probation violation.

As for the lawsuit, a state police spokeswoman said the agency has no comment.

Newswatch 16 has learned the passenger who was in the car with DeLade, and detained for several days, also intends to sue state police.

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