Indiana Borough is being sued by a Penn Hills man over how he was allegedly treated as he was being arrested during a shoplifting incident at Sheetz in 2018.
Reports say that Matthew Forbes filed the claim on Thursday against Indiana Borough, Officer Joshua Henning and two other officers identified in the lawsuit as John Does. On October 28th of 2018, Forbes and a friend went to a Sheetz store in the borough to get some food. Another man, who was driving the car they were in, also went into the store, but did not get any food. Forbes paid for his food and food for one of the friends, and then Forbes picked up a packet of beef jerky, but did not join the payment line as it was a long line. When the men got their food, they started to leave but were met outside by members of Indiana Borough police. Forbes would say that he didn’t pay for the beef jerky, and reports say that he apologized and offered to go back in to pay for it. One of the officers said Forbes and the friend he bought food for could leave, but would be sent citations in the mail. Forbes then said neither of his friends had anything to do with the theft. The driver said he couldn’t leave as he was the only person who could get them back to their college in Johnstown. Officer Henning allegedly raised his voice to say “Now they are going to jail” and tried to arrest Forbes.
The lawsuit claimed Forbes did not resist, but that the Henning and one of the unidentified officers slammed him into a wall. After that, Henning then wrapped an arm around Forbes’ head and stomped on Forbes’ right foot, saying that Forbes was trying to flee. Forbes was later placed in a patrol car and he was taken to the police station. The suit alleges that Henning told the other officer that he thought Forbes was “going crazy” and wanted to use the taser on him. Forbes was later charged and released and went to the hospital to get checked out. A few days later during a second visit to the hospital, Forbes was diagnosed with muscle and tendon injuries around the neck.
The lawsuit mentioned that Forbes was black and Henning is white.
The lawsuit charges that excessive force was used in Forbes’ arrest, which violates the 4th amendment, along with assault and battery and failure by Indiana Borough to properly train police. We contacted borough solicitor Neva Stotler and she said the borough could not comment at this time.
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