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DAYTONA BEACH -- City commissioners have agreed to pay $155,000 to settle a dispute over a repossessed boat.
The heart of the disagreement was over Daytona Beach police getting involved in the January 2008 repossession of the 52-foot boat docked at Loggerhead Marina.
"The officers were wrong," Police Chief Mike Chitwood said.
Because it was a civil matter, and not criminal, the officers should have just stood by and made sure there was no breach of the peace, Chitwood said in a recent interview.
At their meeting last week, city commissioners unanimously OK'd the settlement without discussion. The repossession took place about 11 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2008, at the marina located off Ballough Road near Caribbean Jack's restaurant. The owners of the boat, Steven Woynar and Anna Sapia, were docked for the night and Sapia was in the marina laundry room when the repo got under way, according to a memo from City Attorney Marie Hartman.
Woynar and Sapia later told authorities they were living aboard the boat, dubbed "Pegasus," and were renovating the craft to start a commercial dive business, according to Hartman's memo.
Woynar had purchased the boat with a mortgage that still needed to be paid off. The mortgage holder decided in early 2008 to repossess the boat, claiming Woynar was behind in payments, according to the memo.
When the repo man, Ashley Hull, was about to take the boat, he called Volusia County dispatch and advised that he would be taking the craft. Hull also told dispatchers he wanted a police officer there because he believed Woynar would be violent.
Officer Thomas Alfano was dispatched to the marina, and when he arrived he and Hull approached the boat together, according to Hartman's memo. Accounts of what happened next vary, Hartman said.
Woynar claims that Alfano and Hull boarded the boat, physically removed him at gunpoint, handcuffed him and detained him on the dock. Alfano and Hull deny they forcibly removed Woynar, and Alfano denies that he assisted in the repossession, according to Hartman's memo.
At Hull's request, the boat was searched for drugs by additional officers dispatched to the marina. The search turned up what appeared to be a bag of marijuana seeds and a pipe.
When Sapia returned from the laundry room, she was told to leave the marina property, and she did. When police Sgt. Randy Doyle arrived, he allowed Woynar to remove some personal property from the boat and then had him leave the property. No criminal charges were filed against Woynar.
Woynar and Sapia eventually got the boat back, but they claimed it was damaged so badly while it was detained that they could no longer live on it or use it for a business.
In September 2010, the couple filed a lawsuit in federal court naming six officers at the scene, Chief Chitwood and the city. They claimed the officers unlawfully participated in the repossession, and claimed damages for mental anguish, pain and suffering, physical damage to the boat, loss of their personal possessions and punitive damages.
The case was scheduled to go to trial April 9 in U.S. District Court, but on April 3 Judge John Antoon dismissed the case against all but three individually named officers.
On April 5, the judge asked the two sides to try mediation with a federal magistrate judge, which led to the settlement of all claims.
Alfano has since resigned from the department, Doyle has retired and another officer at the scene has retired, too, Chitwood said.
DAYTONA BEACH -- City commissioners have agreed to pay $155,000 to settle a dispute over a repossessed boat.
The heart of the disagreement was over Daytona Beach police getting involved in the January 2008 repossession of the 52-foot boat docked at Loggerhead Marina.
"The officers were wrong," Police Chief Mike Chitwood said.
Because it was a civil matter, and not criminal, the officers should have just stood by and made sure there was no breach of the peace, Chitwood said in a recent interview.
At their meeting last week, city commissioners unanimously OK'd the settlement without discussion. The repossession took place about 11 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2008, at the marina located off Ballough Road near Caribbean Jack's restaurant. The owners of the boat, Steven Woynar and Anna Sapia, were docked for the night and Sapia was in the marina laundry room when the repo got under way, according to a memo from City Attorney Marie Hartman.
Woynar and Sapia later told authorities they were living aboard the boat, dubbed "Pegasus," and were renovating the craft to start a commercial dive business, according to Hartman's memo.
Woynar had purchased the boat with a mortgage that still needed to be paid off. The mortgage holder decided in early 2008 to repossess the boat, claiming Woynar was behind in payments, according to the memo.
When the repo man, Ashley Hull, was about to take the boat, he called Volusia County dispatch and advised that he would be taking the craft. Hull also told dispatchers he wanted a police officer there because he believed Woynar would be violent.
Officer Thomas Alfano was dispatched to the marina, and when he arrived he and Hull approached the boat together, according to Hartman's memo. Accounts of what happened next vary, Hartman said.
Woynar claims that Alfano and Hull boarded the boat, physically removed him at gunpoint, handcuffed him and detained him on the dock. Alfano and Hull deny they forcibly removed Woynar, and Alfano denies that he assisted in the repossession, according to Hartman's memo.
At Hull's request, the boat was searched for drugs by additional officers dispatched to the marina. The search turned up what appeared to be a bag of marijuana seeds and a pipe.
When Sapia returned from the laundry room, she was told to leave the marina property, and she did. When police Sgt. Randy Doyle arrived, he allowed Woynar to remove some personal property from the boat and then had him leave the property. No criminal charges were filed against Woynar.
Woynar and Sapia eventually got the boat back, but they claimed it was damaged so badly while it was detained that they could no longer live on it or use it for a business.
In September 2010, the couple filed a lawsuit in federal court naming six officers at the scene, Chief Chitwood and the city. They claimed the officers unlawfully participated in the repossession, and claimed damages for mental anguish, pain and suffering, physical damage to the boat, loss of their personal possessions and punitive damages.
The case was scheduled to go to trial April 9 in U.S. District Court, but on April 3 Judge John Antoon dismissed the case against all but three individually named officers.
On April 5, the judge asked the two sides to try mediation with a federal magistrate judge, which led to the settlement of all claims.
Alfano has since resigned from the department, Doyle has retired and another officer at the scene has retired, too, Chitwood said.
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