Judge: Detective can be sued over rape arrest

A federal judge has ruled that a Nassau County man acquitted of attempted rape can proceed with a lawsuit charging that a police detective falsely arrested him.

Kevin Houston, 34, formerly of Hempstead, states in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip that in 2005, Nassau Det. Robert Dunn questioned him about an alleged rape but closed the case in April 2006 for lack of evidence.

Dunn then arrested Houston in June 2006 after the victim filed a criminal complaint. Dunn has argued he had probable cause to arrest Houston based on the report filed by the victim.

A jury acquitted Houston on March 30, 2007, on attempted rape and sexual abuse charges in the case.

Houston - now in the Mohawk Correctional Facility in upstate Rome for an unrelated third-degree rape conviction - is representing himself and could not be reached for comment. He filed the lawsuit on Jan. 11, 2008, and wants $1.5 million in damages.

Houston also named District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Nassau County, and the police department as defendants in the lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bianco severed them from the complaint on Feb. 2.

Bianco wrote that Houston did not explain how the county violated his rights. He also stated that Rice had prosecutorial immunity and that the police department could not be sued.

Bianco did not grant Nassau's request to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the county had not submitted information about what Dunn knew before arresting Houston.

"The court must be able to determine from the pleading what information defendant Dunn had available," Bianco wrote.

So far, Bianco said in the decision, Dunn had not proven he had probable cause to arrest Houston.

The judge said because he did not have the necessary information it would be difficult to "conclude at this juncture" that Dunn had probable cause to arrest.

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli, whose office is representing Dunn, said Friday he understood Bianco's ruling and his decision to keep Dunn as a defendant because it was he who made the arrest.

"When discovery is complete, we will have established a record that supports a finding that there was probable cause [for the arrest]," Ciampoli said.