TAMPA — Terry Neal, a Tampa activist and former City Council candidate, sued the city of Tampa, two police officers and the Police Department, alleging his reputation was ruined when police falsely wrote he had HIV, hepatitis C and a violent mental illness in a police report four years ago. Police arrested Neal after he ignored orders to stop talking during the public comment portion of a December 2004 City Council meeting. When Neal requested his arrest report, he learned that officers had written he was ill, which Neal said was wrong.
An internal police investigation said Tampa police Detective Scott Guffey acted appropriately when he passed on the incorrect information to officer Kristoffer Babino, who wrote the police report.
Despite the fact that Guffey could not pinpoint where he got the information on Neal's health, the report concluded that "even when such information is unverified, the verbal communication of the warning between officers is justified to protect officers from even a possibility of a potentially fatal exposure."
City attorneys agreed in 2006 to remove the statements about Neal's health from the public record.
Neal said in his lawsuit that he has suffered humiliation, emotional and physical distress, and economic losses. He said his arrest was without probable cause and that police acted intentionally or recklessly.
Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said the department doesn't comment on pending litigation.