A Des Moines man is accusing city police in a lawsuit of excessive force, claiming the officers who allegedly assaulted him were later captured on video laughing about how they “really worked him over.”
Eric Lee Kelley, 39, is suing the City of Des Moines and four police officers in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Kelley alleges that in the early morning hours of Oct. 9, 2024, he was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by Des Moines police near McKinley Avenue. The stated rationale for the traffic stop was the lack of a functioning rear license plate light and lack of a front plate, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, officers Jerome Tiller, Charlie Minnehan, Eleanor Ladd and Sgt. Trey Pottorff were among the police at the scene. Tiller is the police department’s canine handler and was accompanied by Draco, a police dog, the lawsuit alleges…