Luis Luna, a Wallingford man who was arrested three years ago for filming police as they broke up a fight in New Haven, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Luna was arrested on September 25, 2010, and filed the lawsuit on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.
An internal report says Assistant Chief Ariel Melendez ordered Luna arrested, took his phone, and ordered that the video Luna recorded be deleted. The report concluded that Melendez engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer, and that an officer must say why someone is being arrested if they are recording police activity. Melendez retired in 2011.