A man assaulted by several convicted Guardian Angels outside a downtown Davenport bar in 2010 is suing them in Scott County District Court, the victim’s attorney said.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Newton, Iowa, attorney Jacob van Cleaf on behalf of the victim, Levi Walters, van Cleaf said.
The suit names James Steel, former Davenport Alderman Bill Lynn, the city of Davenport, the Davenport chapter of the Guardian Angels, the Chicago chapter of the Guardian Angels and the Alliance of Guardian Angels based in New York City as defendants, according to van Cleaf and court records.
“It sounds like a typical plaintiff’s trial lawyer case where they sue everybody regardless of whether they were actually involved or not,” Davenport city attorney Tom Warner said Thursday.
Warner said the city never had a “formal association” with the Guardian Angels. He declined to comment further, saying he hadn’t seen the lawsuit.
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When contacted, Lynn said he was “kind of amazed” and declined further comment about the lawsuit. Lynn championed bringing the Guardian Angels to Davenport while he was an alderman.
Chicago chapter president Miguel “Third Rail” Fuentes said Thursday he didn’t know anything about the lawsuit.
“I’m surprised to even hear about this,” he said.
Fuentes said he expects lawyers on behalf of the Alliance of Guardian Angels will soon file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa could not be reached Thursday to comment.
The Guardian Angels is a volunteer organization of unarmed citizens that began in 1979 in New York City.
Sliwa previously told the Quad-City Times that he defended the actions of Steel and other local Guardian Angels convicted on charges connected to the April 25, 2010, assault.
Steel, 32, of Davenport was president of the local chapter of the Guardian Angels when police accused him, Stephen Cypret, 31, and Thomas Buechel, 52, of punching Walters in the face and breaking his arm.
Steel previously told the Quad-City Times they were acting in self-defense.
Fuentes said Thursday that as his organization’s lawyers went through the court proceedings on the assault charges, they discovered that X-rays taken of Walters at the hospital showed he did not suffer a broken arm.
Yet Fuentes last year said lawyers advised Steel, Cypret and Buechel to plead to lesser misdemeanor charges and avoid the chance they would be found guilty on felony charges at a jury trial.
Steel pleaded guilty to assault and false imprisonment, both serious misdemeanors. Scott County District Judge Marlita Greve suspended the 120-day jail sentences on each charge.
Cypret and Buechel each pleaded guilty to false imprisonment. Cypret was given a suspended 120-day jail sentence, and Buechel was sentenced to one year of probation.
More details about the lawsuit weren’t available Thursday, and van Cleaf declined further comment.