Crime & Safety
$75K Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Dearborn
A Dearborn physical therapist says the city defamed him by incorrectly using his photo in a press conference.
DEARBORN, MI — A $75,000 lawsuit has been filed against the city of Dearborn for defaming a physical therapist by mistakenly using his photograph in connection with an investigation of a doctor accused of supplying prescription narcotics to local drug dealers. Olajide Akunrounmu filed the suit in U.S. Federal Court in Detroit, according to a Detroit News report.
Dearborn officials didn’t respond to a Patch request for comment on the case.
“Despite the city’s “long history of involvement” with Oniango through his arrest in June, when Dearborn leaders issued a news release and held a news conference on the case, they used a picture showing Akunrounmu that appeared to have been “ ‘photoshopped’ off of a private photograph … in which he was one of many other individuals in a group photo,” attorney Vincent Lorelli wrote in the court filing. “This photo was altered by the City of Dearborn for their own wrongful use.”
For more, go to the Detroit News.
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Photo by Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
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