BRIDGEPORT — Two police officers and two Connecticut state prosecutors are facing trial in a lawsuit filed by a Guatemalan man who says the officers violated his civil rights and used excessive force while arresting him in 2008.
Police charged Santos Morales with unlawful possession of a firearm after an incident at a Stamford restaurant. Morales says officers shot him with a stun gun and kicked him after he obeyed their orders to drop a gun that he says he wrestled away from another man.
The trial is scheduled to start Wednesday in federal court in Bridgeport. The defendants include officers Richard Phelan and Andrew Czubatyi and prosecutors Steven Weiss and Mitchell Rubin. Weiss and Rubin are accused of prosecutorial misconduct.
The defendants deny Morales’ allegations. The officers say Morales resisted arrest.
