Police Brutality Charges
Dropped in Fageir Case

Published in The Collegian on June 4, 1992.
By Joseph Kieta, Collegian Staff Writer.

Siddig Fageir, a UT graduate student from the Sudan, has made an agreement to drop his police brutality case against the UT department of public safety division. Fageir claimed to have been beaten by UT safety officer Martin Prsybysz in the Driscoll Center Balch/Clapp Auditorium December 10th.

Fageir said the agreement was reached Monday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, effectively putting an end to the trial.

"I signed the affidavit agreeing not to sue them in return for an end to the trial," Fageir said, adding that he wished the trail to end so he could move on to other endeavors.

According to Fageir and his attorney, Lionel Patterson, the same deal was offered before the trial began, but was declined by the university's attorneys because they thought the charges against UT officers Martin Prsybysz were unjust. After the first witness was called, Patterson said, they changed their minds.

"When they put their star witness up, it all fell apart," Patterson said, adding that the testimony was in Fageir's favor.

In his testimony, the witness, a UT custodian, testified that the reason Pageir was arrested and taken down by Prsybysz was because Fageir failed to produce a driver's license, something Patterson said is not a legitimate reason for arrest.

"I advised him (Fageir) that he had a very good case," Patterson said. "Basically, I don't think there was adequate reason to arrest Mr. Fageir."

"He (Fageir) had already produced a valid I.D. in the form of a UT student I.D. There is no law saying that a driver's license must be obtained," Patterson said.

Fageir cannot understand why the deal was not accepted in the first place. "If they think the charges were unjust, why would they all of a sudden accept the deal?" Fageir said. "I need an apology."

Repeated attempts to contact Frank Pizzulo, a UT director of public safety, for comment on the issue failed.

 Return to University of Toledo police corruption.