A Carrick man has sued Brentwood Borough and four of its police officers after a 2024 traffic stop for an obstructed license plate escalated into what the man’s attorney called an “unlawful and excessive use of force.”
Devin Irwin, 38, filed his lawsuit May 14 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. He is seeking a jury trial and more than $50,000 in damages.
Around 8:20 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2024, Brentwood police pulled over a car on Route 51 because the license plate was partially blocked, according to the lawsuit. Irwin, the front-seat passenger, held up his iPhone and began recording.
Two officers — identified in the lawsuit as Officer Carl Rech and Officer Colin Kelly — ordered Irwin to exit the vehicle, the lawsuit said. Attorney Anthony J. Giannetti, who represents Irwin, said the pair had no probable cause that Irwin had not committed any crime.
In 2024, Irwin was about 5-foot-7 and weighed 160 pounds, the lawsuit said.
“At no time did (Irwin) engage in conduct that posed an immediate threat to officer safety,” Giannetti said in the lawsuit.
Irwin did not threaten officers, according to the lawsuit. Irwin did not attempt to flee the scene. He wasn’t carrying a weapon or drugs. And he didn’t physically interfere with the officers.
“Despite this, Rech and Kelly escalated the encounter,” the lawsuit said. “Within seconds of initiating the stop, Kelly advised (Irwin): ‘Step out or you’re under arrest for obstruction.’”
At least four officers — identified in the lawsuit as Rech, Kelly, officer Joshua Scott and officer Kyle Taylor — interacted with Irwin and those in the car, according to cellphone footage Irwin provided TribLive in 2024. They repeatedly ordered Irwin to get out of the car.
He refused.
“Get out of the car or you’re getting drug out of the car,” Rech told Irwin, according to the lawsuit. “You’re gonna get Tased.”
Officers’ body-worn camera footage showed Rech point his Taser at Irwin, according to the lawsuit. Irwin’s attorney said his client’s hands “were visible and in a non-threatening position.”
“Rech’s statements and conduct demonstrate that he intended to use force before any resistance or threat materialized,” the lawsuit said.
Another officer arrived on scene, the lawsuit said.
“We’re gonna drag him out of the car,” Rech told the officer, according to the lawsuit. “I’ll go Taser, you guys go hands on.”
Three officers then “forcibly removed” Irwin from the car, the lawsuit said. Irwin’s hands “were raised and visible” in officers’ body-worn camera footage, Giannetti said in the lawsuit.
The officers then pressed Irwin against the car, “lifted him in the air and violently drove him to the ground, even though he was not resisting,” the lawsuit said.
With Irwin restrained, one of the officers pressed a Taser into Irwin’s torso and shocked him several times using a tactic known as a “drive stun.”
Irwin “was fully restrained, outnumbered, and incapable of posing a threat,” the lawsuit said. “(Irwin) posed no immediate threat to officers or others. The repeated use of a (Taser) under these circumstances constituted gratuitous and objectively unreasonable force.”
Irwin, a laborer from Pittsburgh who posted the video to Facebook, told TribLive in 2024 that the incident was an open-and-shut case: He believes police violated his constitutional rights.
“There was nothing we had done,” Irwin, then 37, said shortly after the arrest. “No crime was committed at all. They just didn’t like being recorded.”
Giannetti declined comment Wednesday.
“The complaint really speaks for itself,” he said.
Brentwood police and municipal officials didn’t respond Wednesday to multiple phone calls and emails. They either didn’t respond to or declined requests for comment at the time of the incident.
TribLive sought Brentwood’s policies involving Tasers, use of force and interactions with people filming or videotaping police officers. The borough ignored or denied all of the requests.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office also refused a TribLive request to turn over video from officers’ body-worn and dashboard cameras.
Brentwood police charged Irwin in 2024 with obstruction, criminal mischief and multiple counts of resisting arrest. He was released on nonmonetary bond.
Irwin’s criminal trial in the case is set to begin in front of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos in September.