Incidents

On November 22, 2017, Linwood Lester Rivera, Sr. filed a court complaint under the Civil Rights Act against Portsmouth Police K-9 and Chesapeake Police officers for events that took place on March 4, 2017. The complaint alleges unlawful search and seizure, unlawful arrest, unlawful detention, and abuse while in custody for over five months. Although most officers in this incident cannot be identified, Chesapeake General District Court records indicate that Officer Russell Sawatzke was the officer to charge Rivera on the day in question.