United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- A man is suing a former Palm Beach police officer who pulled a gun on him.
- Ryan Gould says he called police for help after another man had pulled a gun on him.
- The Palm Beach Police Department fired officer Bethany Guerriero following the altercation.
A man is suing a former Palm Beach police officer who pulled a gun on him and arrested him improperly after he called police for help.
Ryan Gould filed a federal lawsuit against Former Palm Beach Police Department officer Bethany Guerriero on January 10 in Florida, demanding an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a jury trial.
In his complaint, Gould said he called police on May 9, 2023, after a dispute between him and a woman swimming at his apartment complex's pool escalated, and the woman's boyfriend pulled a gun on Gould.
Videos and news coverage of the incident had gone viral on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, amassing hundreds of thousands of views.
When police arrived, Gould was wearing a bathing suit with no shirt, giving him no place to conceal a weapon, his lawsuit said.
The first officer to arrive quickly spoke to Gould before speaking with the other couple involved in the altercation, the complaint said.
Gould was talking on his cell phone when Guerriero arrived, and quickly put the device into his pocket. Gould told Guerriero he was not the person with the gun.
The lawsuit said Gould removed his cell phone from his pocket and held his hands out wide, showing that he did not have a weapon, but Guerriero insisted that he drop his cellphone, then drew her weapon.
"Before Defendant Guerriero drew her weapon, multiple seconds had elapsed from the moment that Gould grabbed his cell phone from his bathing suit," the complaint said. "Gould had complied with commands, and it was clear that he did not possess a weapon."
Guerriero then ordered Gould to the ground and forced him to "lie on the hot pavement at gunpoint," the complaint said.
Guerriero mocked and spoke "angrily and disrespectfully" to Gould during the altercation, telling him to "shut his mouth" when he objected to Guerriero's treatment of him, the complaint said.
"Shut your mouth," a video shows Guerriero telling Gould, according to The Palm Beach Post. "I've been here for 20 years, punk. I'm in charge. Not you."
The officers arrested Gould and took him to jail, but released him moments before he was to be processed, the complaint said. As other officers arrived to transport Gould to the jail, "Guerriero complained of health issues and left the scene," the complaint continued.
The Palm Beach Police Department investigated Guerriero's conduct and fired her last August, saying she "violated several department policies."
Gould's lawsuit said he suffered from physical injury, emotional damage, mental suffering and anguish, and lost wages and benefits among other damages due to the encounter. The continued mental anguish he suffered from the incident caused him to relocate to Illinois, his attorneys said.
James Slater, an attorney for Gould, told Business Insider that Gould was "victimized twice" on May 9, 2023. First, when the man confronted him at the pool with a gun, and second when the officers approached him with their weapons drawn, "despite knowing that he was not the perpetrator of any crime and did not possess any weapons."
"We look forward to seeking justice for Mr. Gould," Slater said in a statement.
Guerriero does not have an attorney listed yet on the court docket and could not immediately be reached for comment.