Business owner claims Pittsburgh police wrongfully detained her in parking spot dispute with magistrate's office

Marsha Simonds just wanted the illegally parked car to be moved from the Greenfield lot that she owns.

But when the business woman demanded its removal, she said, she wound up slammed on the hood of her car, handcuffed and thrown in the back of a Pittsburgh police car. Then she was hit with a pair of disorderly conduct charges.

The August 2019 altercation followed a long-simmering dispute between Simonds and the magistrate judge whose office encroaches on her lot. She said those visiting the court park often illegally there.

The incident came to a head June 7 when an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge threw out the case against Simonds, citing lack of evidence.

Simonds and her attorney, Todd Hollis, believe that what happened at Magistrate Judge James Hanley Jr.’s office with the Pittsburgh police, reflects an abuse of authority.

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” Hollis said. “If you’re a judge, police officer or attorney, that doesn’t give you the authority to trounce upon someone’s civil rights.”

Hanley denied any wrongdoing.

“What the police did, they did on their own,” he said. “I had nothing to do with that.”

A spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh police said the Tribune-Review would have to submit a Right To Know request to obtain answers to questions for this story.

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Simonds’ family bought the parking lot in the 4700 block of Murray Avenue in March 2016 for $60,000. Almost immediately, she said, there was dissension.

Although the entrance to Hanley’s office, which is rented by the county court system, is in the parking lot, none of the spaces legally belong to it, Simonds said.

For months, she said, she would call Pittsburgh police to complain about cars parking illegally. According to Hanley, during that time, a total of 22 calls to 911 were made relative to the property.

Simonds’ company filed a lawsuit against the building owner in October 2017, alleging that the building owner was using the parking lot without paying.

Soon after, new owners bought the building and filed their own civil suit against Simonds’ company. They alleged the company was “aggressively” trying to stop all access to the court.

The complaint accused the company of harassing the tenants and attempting to tow vehicles parked there.

Finally, on Aug. 22, 2019, Common Pleas Judge Arnold Klein signed an order that allowed Hanley’s office to lease two spaces per month for $212. The rest of the spots, Simonds said, were leased to a UPMC office nearby or were used by her company.

To enforce the parking restrictions, Klein said the parties could call police or have cars towed.

Simonds said she emailed a copy of the order to Pittsburgh Zone 4 police Cmdr. Daniel Herrmann, so he and his officers were aware of what had happened.

But five days later, when she arrived for work, Simonds saw Pittsburgh building inspector Michael Gillespie parking illegally. Gillespie was headed into Hanley’s office. Simonds said she asked him to move the car into one of the empty spots marked for the magistrate. Gillespie refused, she said.

At that point, according to video footage from inside Hanley’s office, Simonds entered the vestibule area and waited at the window to speak with someone. No one arrived, and after a few minutes, Simonds left. She said she went to her office to get a copy of the court order.

When she returned, Simonds approached the window and Hanley’s clerk, Christine Boyer. Although the video does not have sound, Boyer can be seen immediately gesturing and putting her hand up.

Simonds said Boyer was telling her, “‘Bye. You can’t be here.” Boyer said Simonds was yelling.

“She was screaming at me — ‘you need to tell him to move his vehicle,’ ” Boyer testified June 7. “I told her I don’t need to do anything.”

Boyer said she told Simonds she wasn’t allowed to be there and that she would call 911.

Simonds put the court order on the counter, turned around, dialed 911 on her cell phone and left.

The entire exchange lasted 25 seconds. Simonds’ 911 call was made 12 seconds before Boyer’s.

In it, Simonds said she was standing in her parking lot.

“I have a vehicle that’s not authorized to be on my property, and they’re refusing to move their car,” she said, according to the recording. “I was told I could call 911 and Comdr. Herrmann.”

Simonds provided a description of the car and its plate number.

“The magistrate is telling them that they can stay,” she said.

But in Boyer’s 911 call recording, she said, “The girl from across the street regarding the parking lot that’s an ongoing issue refuses to leave the court and comes in to cause a disturbance.”

Boyer told the call taker Simonds was inside the lobby, though the video from the magistrate’s office showed she had already left.

“She’s in the lobby. And insists on she’s allowed to be here. And it’s because she wants the inspector to move his car, but she’s yelling at me.”

When Pittsburgh police officers arrived, according to testimony, Simonds was standing next to her car waiting for them. However, they went past her and into Hanley’s office.

Boyer directed Officer Adam Thimons back outside to where Simonds stood.

As he approached, Simonds said she told him, “‘Hi, I’m Marsha, I’m the one who called about this car.’”

But Thimons didn’t listen, she said, and instead told her to put her arms behind her back.

In his police report, he wrote that Boyer told him Simonds refused to leave multiple times.

“I attempted to detain Simonds on scene pending further investigation. First, I stated to Simonds, ‘turn around.’ Simonds asked, ‘why?’ and then began backing away from me. Again, I stated to Simonds, ‘turn around’ and ordered her to place her hands behind her back. Simonds again refused my verbal commands. After multiple orders, I held Simonds’ left arm and turned her around as she placed her hands behind her back. As I attempted to detain her, Simonds began repeatedly screaming, ‘call Cmdr. Herrmann’ as she continued to pull away from me.”

Simonds was cuffed and placed in the backseat of a patrol car.

In the meantime, Sgt. Elizabeth Merkel, whose body cam was turned on, arrived and went into Hanley’s chambers with the other officers.

That footage begins with Boyer saying: “They’re going to keep coming in here.”

Merkel, who is holding her cell phone, then asks the other officers in the room, “Did you see the email from the commander?”

None of them had.

During the discussion, Det. Donald Pasquarelli said he was looking out for Thimons’ best interest.

Although it is hard to hear all of the audio, Pasquarelli can be heard saying that Simonds should be charged by citation.

“But a physical arrest?” Pasquarelli said. “I don’t want this to bite him.”

Merkel, who is no longer a Pittsburgh officer, asks Hanley if he agrees. He says yes.

“There’s a court order for parking, but she shouldn’t be here,” Hanley told officers. “She has the commander’s cellphone for Christ’s sake. This was done ass backwards.”

A short time later, the body cam appears to be turned off. It resumes later, when Merkel goes outside to talk to Simonds, who was still handcuffed in the back of the patrol car. Simonds complained that Thimons aggravated an already existing injury to her shoulder when he cuffed her.

Merkel removed Simonds’ cuffs, and listened as Simonds explained that she was the one who called 911 to report the illegally parked car. She questioned why she had been arrested.

“When we respond to 911 calls, we act quickly for everyone’s safety and then go back and investigate,” Merkel told her. “It could be someone that wants to hurt someone inside. And that’s why we act and then go back and investigate.”

After about nine minutes, Merkel allowed Simonds to get out of the car. As she stood there, Simonds spoke on the phone with her attorney. Ultimately, the police told Simonds she was not being arrested.

The morning after the incident, Simonds emailed Herrmann to tell him what happened.

He replied: “Marsha — I read the two emails below. Thank you for the information. It is unfortunate that I was in a meeting downtown or I would have heard the dispatch and responded myself. I am sad that this occurred. The phone number that you were provided was for the Office of Municipal Investigations … They will advise you on how to file a complaint against the officer. Since there will be future litigation on this incident, I am not authorized to comment.”

Herrmann said he could not comment for this story because of the possibility of future litigation.

In his police report, Thimons wrote that Simonds had entered Hanley’s office and “became confrontational toward staff by yelling profanity at them regarding parked vehicles in the lot. At that point, Boyer did not feel safe and asked Simonds to leave multiple times but Simonds refused.”

She was charged by summons with two counts of disorderly conduct — one identifying Boyer as a victim and another identifying Gillespie.

But according to testimony from a prior hearing on the disorderly conduct charges, Gillespie described Simonds’ demeanor with him as “rather calm. Wasn’t agitated or anything like that.”

“She just told me … ‘we own the parking lot, and you’re not allowed to park here,’” Gillespie testified.

The charge involving Gillespie was thrown out by Magistrate Judge Thomas Brletic at the earlier hearing.

However, Brletic found Simonds guilty of the count involving Boyer. He issued a $100 fine plus court costs. According to a transcript of the hearing, Brletic told Simonds there was no reason for her to go into Hanley’s office that day.

“All she had to do was call the police,” he said.

Simonds appealed Brletic’s decision, and had her summary appeal hearing on June 7.

At that hearing, before Judge W. Terrence O’Brien, several police officers were called to testify, as well as Boyer and Hanley, who said he did not witness any of the exchange with Simonds.

At the conclusion of the prosecution’s case, Mart Harris, who also represents Simonds, made a motion for judgment of acquittal — meaning the prosecution could not meet its burden to prove their client guilty.

O’Brien granted it.

He noted, though, that had the charge against Simonds been defiant trespass, there might have been a different outcome.

In an interview, Hanley said that Simonds should not have been in his court that day because of a previous order that required any magistrate matters involving Simonds’ mother, Anna Zaydenberg, to be handled at a different magistrate’s office.

“They were not to come into the court,” he said.

But Simonds said that order did not bar her from Hanley’s building. She said she went in that day to make sure his staff was aware of Klein’s order on the parking issue.

Hanley said he never saw that order until after the fact, and his office was not a party to the negotiations. He said he didn’t think it was Simonds’ place to serve his office with the order.

Hanley said he did not collude with the officers, as Simonds and her attorney allege.

“I asked them not to arrest her,” he said. “I thought that would be counter productive.”

Angharad Stock, Allegheny County deputy court administrator, said that it was a police decision to cite Simonds.

“We rent parking spaces, and it’s all working out well,” she said.

But Simonds said that for her, the situation is not over.

“All of this is being able to share my story and bring to light individuals who think they can hide behind their job or title — that they think they’re better than someone else,” Simonds said. “It’s so grossly inappropriate. I won’t stand there and roll over while you infringe on our rights.”

Correction: Elizabeth Merkel currently works for the Mars Borough Police Department. A previous version of this story included the wrong department.