Burgettstown settles lawsuit with former police officer
BURGETTSTOWN – Burgettstown Borough settled a federal lawsuit filed by former police officer Derick Atif Dayoub for $11,000 according to an agreement signed June 2.
The agreement was released Tuesday after the Observer-Reporter filed a Right to Know request with the borough. Terms of the settlement released the municipality and former police chief George Roberts from any further legal liability in the case. The municipality also agreed to pay Dayoub’s court costs.
Burgettstown officials said they could not comment on the settlement due to a nondisclosure agreement.
Dayoub was working as a part-time Smith Township officer when he was arrested for allegedly assaulting two men in separate incidents while on duty in 2009. He was also a part-time Burgettstown officer at the time.
In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in 2012, Dayoub claimed he was arrested without probable cause through a conspiracy that included the borough of Burgettstown, Roberts, former Washington County district attorney Steve Toprani, former county chief detective Michael Aaron, McDonald police Officer William Nimal and Washington County. Court documents indicated the arrest stemmed from a feud between Aaron and former Smith Township supervisor Joe Murray.
Toprani later dismissed the charges.
The lawsuit claimed Aaron, who was working as a McDonald police officer at the time of the arrest, disliked Dayoub in part because of his Syrian descent.
The most recent settlement does not release any of the other parties named in the suit and the case is still pending in federal court.
Smith Township suspended Dayoub for undisclosed reasons during the board of supervisors’ meeting in February. Smith Township Police Chief Bernie LaRue accepted his resignation during a private disciplinary hearing in March. Township supervisor Tom Schilinski said the resignation had nothing to do with the civil case.
In June, Topriani, Aaron and the county asked Washington County Court to unseal evidence from a 2009 grand jury proceeding investigating Smith and Burgettstown police departments in which Dayoub was a witness. Toprani and Aaron argued the testimony would help them fight the federal case, in which Dayoub is asking for $75,000 plus punitive damages.
Burgettstown has since disbanded its police force. In December 2012, the borough gave a five-year extension to the McDonald department for police coverage in the municipality.