Lawsuit against Virginia Beach detective tossed

VIRGINIA BEACH

A judge has thrown out a $200,000 lawsuit against a city detective for wrongful arrest.

Terence J. Darden was arrested in April 2008 and jailed for almost a year without bond, accused of robbing a young man near Green Run Elementary School.

Darden was held until the man who ultimately pleaded guilty to the crime took a polygraph test that cleared him.

That man, Ronald Galloway, said he'd told police from the beginning that Darden was not involved, but prosecutors say he also initially denied knowing Darden or committing the robbery.

Circuit Judge Patricia L. West dismissed the suit last week, which had claimed Detective Thomas M. Bleh was "grossly negligent" in performing the investigation.

"It was the city's contention all along that the allegations in the case did not rise to gross negligence," Assistant City Attorney Natalie P. Mann said.

The case began the night of April 26, 2008, when Darden asked a friend for a ride to 7-Eleven, the lawsuit said.

They drove a red Lexus from his friend's townhome in Green Run to the 7-Eleven on Holland Road.

At 12:12 a.m., Darden bought 50 minutes for his cell phone, then went back to the car, and they returned to his townhouse, according to his suit.

Eight minutes later, the city's 911 center received a call reporting a robbery at Green Run Elementary School, about halfway between Darden's friend's townhome and the 7-Eleven they went to that night.

A young man said he and two others were on the school's athletic fields when a black woman pulled up in a red sedan. He said two black men got out of the car, robbed him of his iPod at gunpoint, and left, according to court documents.

At about 12:45 a.m., a Virginia Beach police officer pulled over the car Darden was in, which was in the area of the robbery and matched the description given by the victim. Other police officers arrived as back-up, including Bleh.

He brought the victim to the scene, who identified Darden as one of the men who had robbed him 45 minutes before. Bleh arrested Darden, and he was held without bond.

The victim also identified the other robber as Galloway, whom the victim knew. Galloway was arrested later for the robbery.

In March 2009, Galloway pleaded guilty, and said during a polygraph test that Darden did not assist him in the robbery.

The prosecutor then dismissed the charges against Darden but reserved the right to bring them back if more evidence surfaces.

"The victim continues to be adamant that Darden was one of the two men who robbed him," according to a statement from Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant's office.

The statement also says Galloway initially denied knowing Darden and that he claimed he didn't commit the robbery. The only name Galloway has ever given police for his accomplice is "Quan," according to the statement.

In his lawsuit, Darden claimed that Bleh conducted a suggestive line-up, relied on an unreasonable stop of the Lexus that Darden was riding in as part of the investigation, and had failed to get evidence or talk to witnesses that could have provided Darden with an alibi.

City attorneys had argued that Darden's allegations ignore the fact that the detective had a reliable in-person identification of Darden, which alone gave the officer probable cause to arrest Darden.

They also argued that Darden's argument presumes that Bleh had to investigate the case in a certain way and that his investigative actions were not grossly negligent.

Darden's attorney, Robert H. Bennett, said Monday he was not sure if his client would appeal the decision.