Pittsburgh police arrested and charged a South Side man with assaulting a pregnant woman near the Liberty Bridge without checking security videos that confirmed his alibi that he was at Duquesne University at the time of the attack, the man claims in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Rex Coughenour, 62, is suing the city and two police officers for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The city declined comment.
After studying late at the university library, Coughenour, a graduate student, stopped at the university convenience store to make a purchase before walking home, the lawsuit says.
During his walk, at about 1 a.m., he ran into Pittsburgh police Officer Brett Butkewich, who was investigating the assault. Butkewich and Officer Robert Pedley arrested Coughenour based on the victim identifying him as the assailant without checking his claim that he had been in the university library, the lawsuit says.
Coughenour spent a month in jail before he was assigned a public defender, who obtained surveillance video from the convenience store that confirmed his alibi, the lawsuit says.
