A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed claims against the city of Pittsburgh related to a South Side bar brawl between undercover officers and members of the Pagans motorcycle club, ruling that public safety officials couldn’t have known they needed a policy against undercover officers drinking to excess because there hadn’t been a need for such a policy prior to the 2018 melee.
That ruling by U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon was a blow to the only remaining lawsuit born out of the Oct. 12, 2018, brawl at Kopy’s bar. Four undercover narcotics detectives were involved in the incident: David Honick, Brian Burgunder, Brian Martin and David Lincoln.
The four Pagans arrested in the aftermath — Frank DeLuca, Michael Zokaites, Bruce Thomas and Erik Heitzenrater — all filed lawsuits against the officers and the city.
The city settled last week with Mr. Zokaites, Mr. Thomas, and the estate of Mr. Heitzenrater, who died in 2022. Mr. DeLuca’s lawsuit went to trial Monday.
Mr. DeLuca’s lawsuit accused Detectives Burgunder, Lincoln and Honick of excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution. He claimed the city’s lack of policy on stopping undercover officers from drinking led to violations of his civil rights.
Wendell Hissrich, who served as the city’s director of public safety from 2016 to 2022, testified Tuesday afternoon that he had been unaware of any incidents prior to the October 2018 incident in which undercover officers allegedly drank to excess.
He said that at the time there was no policy in place prohibiting undercover officers from drinking on duty; rather, there was only a general drug and alcohol policy barring all city police from being under the influence of drugs or alcohol while on duty.
“Did the city of Pittsburgh have a policy or guideline or rule prohibiting undercover officers from drinking while on duty?” Mr. DeLuca’s attorney, James E. DePasquale, asked Mr. Hissrich.
“There was no policy prior to this incident,” Mr. Hissrich said, agreeing with the attorney when he pointed out that the existing policy did not expressly prohibit undercover officers drinking on the job.
Following Mr. Hissrich’s testimony, Hillary Weaver, an attorney for the city, asked the judge to dismiss the claims against the city. She argued that because there were no prior incidents involving undercover officers drinking to excess, the city couldn’t have known such a policy was needed.
Mr. DePasquale argued that an incident like what happened at Kopy’s that night should have been foreseeable. Judge Bissoon asked him how that was foreseeable.
“Because they’re human beings working undercover who are allowed to go into a bar,” he said, noting that drinking to excess can lead to fights.
Did he have evidence that the city knew of prior incidents like this one? the judge asked.
“I have no evidence the city was aware of prior incidents,” Mr. DePasquale said, “only common sense.”
Judge Bissoon told him that “common sense was not going to rule the day,” and she dismissed the claims against the city. She also dismissed claims of false arrest against all three detectives.
The claims of malicious prosecution and excessive force remain.
Testimony: ‘I had no clue they were officers’
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. DeLuca, Mr. Zokaites and Mr. Thomas testified as to their recollections of late Oct. 11 into early Oct. 12, 2018.
The men said they had been at another bar in Coraopolis before moving on to Kopy’s.
Mr. DePasquale asked Mr. DeLuca if he “noticed four detectives getting drunk” at the other end of the bar. Mr. DeLuca said he saw four guys drinking, but he didn’t know who they were — nor did he really care, he said.
All three men said they had no idea the other men were police officers. Mr. DeLuca called the suggestion that officers at one point identified themselves as such “100% untrue.”
About an hour into their time at Kopy’s, Mr. DeLuca moved farther up the bar to order another beer, which put him closer to the undercover officers. At that point, he said, the Pagans were “minding our own business” when Detective Honick began “butting in and wouldn’t leave us alone.”
He said he couldn’t remember the exact conversation but eventually put his hand out to try to de-escalate the situation by shaking hands with the detective.
He alleged that, all the while, Detective Honick was gripping his gun in his waistband. The other undercover officers approached because they could see “me and Detective Honick were not getting along.”
“I don’t even know he’s a police officer [at that point],” Mr. DeLuca said. “I just know he’s slurring his words and drunk and holding a pistol.”
Security footage that captured the entire night showed Detective Honick and Mr. DeLuca becoming more and more animated, jabbing fingers at one another and clearly shouting. Mr. DeLuca said someone yelled, “Let’s just end this.”
Mr. DeLuca said he responded with: “If you want to end this, just walk.” He said Detective Honick told him “that’s not how this works.”
The footage shows Mr. DeLuca shove Detective Honick just as several uniformed police officers walk into the bar, at which point a brawl ensued. Footage shows Detective Lincoln punching Mr. DeLuca in the face more than a dozen times. Mr. DeLuca said he wasn’t trying to resist — he didn’t know what was happening.
“I had no clue they were officers,” he said. “I thought I was going to pass out or die.”
First Published: January 14, 2025, 10:50 p.m.
Updated: January 15, 2025, 5:22 p.m.