Davis v. Burgess

This is an action of trespass for assault and battery and false imprisonment. The plaintiff was a private citizen, and the defendant, at the time of the arrest complained of, was a policeman in the city of Detroit. On the 31st of August, 1882, the defendant claims he went into a pawnbroker’s shop in Detroit to assist a young man in obtaining a watch he had left in pawn there; he saw the plaintiff, who was acting as clerk for the pawnbroker, Mr. Yan Baalen, at the time, and Davis ordered him out of the shop, using profane and indecent language towards him as he left. The next day, about noon,…