Federal Judge Dismisses Danvers Man's Case Against Beverly Police

BEVERLY, MA — A federal court judge dimssied a complaint a Danvers man filed against the Beverly Police Department and the officer who arrested him for drunken driving in January 2018. Donald Strunk claimed the department and Officer Ryan Hegarty violated his rights under the ADA when Hegarty administered field sobriety tests and arrested him. Strunk, who was convicted by a Salem District Court jury in April 2018, still has an appeal of his conviction on charges of operating under the influence and other violations pending.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton ruled Hegarty has immunity and the Beverly Police Department is not a governmental entity amenable to suit under the ADA.

Hegarty pulled over Strunk after seeing a passenger in the car he was driving throw what looked like a liquor bottle out the window. Strunk said he told Hegarty that he was disabled, but the officer administered standard field sobriety tests. Among the disabilities Struck claims are a large ventral hernia, bilateral flat feet, bilateral shoulder osteoarthritis, bilateral knee osteoarthritis a right foot cyst and hearing loss.

As Hegarty transported Strunk to the police station he began complaining about chest and leg plain and said he thought he was having a heart attack. Hegarty transported him to Beverly Hospital. Strunk claims he was never offered a breathalyzer test at the hospital, while the police department maintains he refused the test.

At trial, Hegarty testified he simply moved on to the next field sobriety when Strunk told him his disability prevented him from performing the requested action.

"Ddetermination of the issue of intoxication was presumably essential to the jury’s decision in the criminal case because the only evidence of Strunk’s condition was allegedly his failure to perform the field sobriety tests," Gorton wrote. "Thus the jury apparently found that Strunk had not failed the field sobriety tests because of his alleged disabilities but rather because he was intoxicated. Because the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that Strunk was drunk on the night of the incident, he cannot now assert that he was discriminated against on the basis of his alleged disabilities when he was arrested and charged after failing the field sobriety tests."

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).