Nate Allen, right, with his lawyer, Sawyer Smith. A FMPD internal investigation into the wrongful arrest of Allen is ongoing. (Photo: Ricardo Rolon/file/The News-Press) Buy PhotoNFL player Nate Allen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Fort Myers on Thursday, nearly two years after his wrongful arrest.

Allen, a defensive back with the Oakland Raiders and Cape Coral High graduate, was arrested by the Fort Myers Police Department in February 2015. He was held for five hours after a victim wrongly accused him of masturbating in his vehicle along Cleveland Avenue.

The lawsuit claims police violated Allen’s right against unreasonable seizure and his right for equal protection of the law, and the city conspired to cover it up.

An investigation by the state attorney’s office revealed Allen could not have been responsible, and internal affairs reports show the evidence didn’t add up, officers applied the wrong law and they held him two hours after they realized a mistake had been made. The actual perpetrator of the crime has never been found.

The following people are also listed as defendants: Jacquelyn Garrett, the supervisor in charge of the arrest, Audenia Nicole Thomas, the detective responsible for investigating the crime, and former Chief Doug Baker.

“When viewed in their totality,” the complaint says, “the actions of Garrett and Thomas, as ratified by the city and Baker, evidence a disregard of, or indifference to, the rights and safety of Allen.”

The police department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

“The purpose of this lawsuit is to hold the Fort Myers Police Department accountable,” said Sawyer Smith, Allen’s lawyer, “and to ensure that the civil rights of citizens in our community are taken seriously and preserved so no one has to go through this again.”

Mayor Randy Henderson said he is disappointed the issue couldn’t be reconciled, but there is a silver lining in this situation.

“Since that has happened,” Henderson said, “we have a new police chief and we’re in the process of examining the internal workings of our police department.”

On Feb. 16, 2015, a 16-year-old girl driving on Cleveland Avenue called 911, saying a man pulled up next to her in a truck and began masturbating. She described the man as “mixed race” between 40 and 50 years old with a white goatee.

Garrett was the first on scene and met with the girl, who gave a description and said she was 16 years old. Officers then spotted a truck, which was driven by Allen, and Garrett caught up and pulled him over on Colonial Boulevard and Fowler Street, several blocks east of Cleveland Avenue.

Allen — 28 years old at the time with facial hair that was barely visible — was driving a lifted truck, and it would have been impossible for the girl to see him through the passenger side window of her car, according to internal affairs reports and the complaint.

“Despite Allen not fitting the description given by the girl and despite knowing the girl was 16 years of age,” the complaint says, “Garrett detained Allen for ‘Exposure of Sexual Organs to a Minor Under 16 Years of Age’, and took him to the Fort Myers Police Department for further detention and questioning.”

But the law Garrett used is a misdemeanor, and in Florida, officers cannot arrest someone for a misdemeanor unless they watched it happen.

At FMPD, Allen denied the allegations under interrogation by Thomas, and explained he was eating at Red Lobster on Cleveland Avenue at the time. Thomas never checked Allen’s alibi and never confirmed the victim’s age, reports show.

Capt. Jim Mulligan, who was acting chief with Baker out of town, was told Allen had been arrested under the wrong statute three hours after the fact, and yet continued to keep Allen for another two hours, reports show.

Six months later, Baker was fired for allegedly lying during the internal affairs investigation. Baker said he called and ordered Capt. Melvin Perry to have Allen released, but phone records show it was a missed call.

“The city and Baker have failed to properly train their officers,” the complaint says. “A reasonable law enforcement officer would have performed a proper investigation and would have known Allen should not have been arrested.”

At least 10 members of FMPD were involved with the arrest and investigation of Allen, and several high-ranking officers were communicating about the incident as the night unfolded, records show. But four people were disciplined and all of them are women.

Garrett is still with the department as a sergeant, and Thomas left last November as the result of a $300,000 settlement with the department. Prior to this incident, Thomas sued her own department claiming she was harassed by supervising officers, passed over for promotions because she is black and retaliated against for complaining about bias. Allen’s arrest happened in the midst of Thomas’ lawsuit.

Allen said he is determined to make sure no one has to go through what happened to him.

“The Fort Myers Police Department needs to stand up and fix what’s broken,” Allen said. “I intend to see that changes are made.”

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