City Denies False Arrest Allegations, Seeks Dismissal

The city has denied any wrongdoing in response to a lawsuit filed by a local man who claims police twice arrested and held him on a recalled warrant.

James Twohig, 31, is suing the city in federal court for $500,000, claiming it violated his 14th amendment rights when Medford Police held him from June 25 to 28, 2010 and again on April 22 to 25 this year on a warrant out of Norfolk County that had been recalled.

In a court filing submitted Jan. 13, the city denied Twohig's claims and sought to have the case dismissed.

Twohig was arrested both times because the state's warrant management system indicated he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, City Solicitor Mark Rumley said in a brief phone interview Tuesday.

"On both occasions when they were called they checked the warrant management system," Rumley said. "And on both occasions they had no choice but to arrest him."

Each time, Medford police responded to a call from Twohig's mother who was seeking help with her son because he was exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder, according to previous papers filed by Twohig's attorney, Laurence Cohen. Both times, he was arrested on a warrant out of Norfolk County that had been recalled, Cohen said.

Cohen has claimed Medford police were faxed court dockets after the first arrest showing the warrant had been recalled. And after the second arrest police were told by Cohen that information in the state's trial court database showed the warrant had been recalled, but they continued to hold him for three days.

"It seemed they believed me, but they weren't sure where to go from there," .

Police were acting on the official information of warrant management system, Rumley said.

"It wasn’t recalled on the record," Rumley said. "What counts is what the officers see when they run it on the warrant system."

Different police officers were involved in the two incidents where Twohig was arrested, Rumley said.

after it failed to respond to the complaint within three weeks. But that order was set aside Tuesday by federal judge William Young.

Rumley requested the default be set aside in a filing last week, which said it took the city some extra time to gather facts on the case due to the holidays.

Neither Twohig nor Cohen ever brought the allegations to another law enforcement body - such at the U.S. Attorney or District Attorney - for investigation, Cohen previously said.

A scheduling conference is set for the case on Feb. 8 in U.S. District Court in Boston.