Lawsuit Re-Filed Against Atlanta Cop Accused of Buckhead IHOP Punching

The Atlanta Police Department officer who was cleared of wrongdoing after a scuffle in a Buckhead IHOP in April 2011 is facing a renewed lawsuit filed by one of the women who was arrested.

Officer Jose Vidal, who was working as an off-duty security guard at the time, has been sued by Roberta Caban for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Reports.

According to the suit, Caban and her friend Cynthia Freeman were assaulted, falsely arrested, and falsely held in Fulton County jail where they were humiliated by being forced to use the bathroom before male inmates.

Atlanta Police see it another way; Vidal's incident report states that Freeman was acting disorderly inside the now-closed IHOP, and when asked to leave, refused.

Police then say that Freeman began punching Vidal, and was also accosted by Ashley Leavell, who allegedly punched the officer in the face. Vidal was caught on camera returning Leavell's punch.

The attorney for the women arrested at the IHOP that night told the AJC in May, 2011 that the police's story about the chain of events was "riddled with inaccuracies."

The Atlanta Police Department cleared Vidal of any wrongdoing, but that didn't stop Leavell from filing a lawsuit against Vidal and IHOP in May, 2013. It is not known if the two suits are related or why the suit needed to be filed again.