A Delaware father and his two sons want to sue former Philadelphia police officer Lt. Jonathan Josey.
James Lewis says he was driving in North Philadelphia, while his two sons followed in another vehicle, in September of 2011. Lewis tells NBC10's Luann Cahn that he was pulled over by Lt. Josey, who accused him of being a drug dealer.
"I laughed and told him I'm not a drug dealer. I told him I had several businesses in North Philly area, where did you get that from?" said Lewis.
Lewis claims that Lt. Josey was irate and he started beating them.
All three of them were arrested and charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest. The Lewis family says they were the ones who were assaulted.
"Just the trauma, the impact of being arrested and going to jail. It's something I never experienced before in 44 years until now. And then to watch officers choking your children while they are handcuffed, for a simple routine traffic stop, it turned our life upside-down," said Lewis.
The charges against Lewis and his sons were dropped.
A statement from the Philadelphia District Attorney's office says “… the most appropriate action at this time… This decision has nothing to do with the charges against Lt. Josey last year for the assault on Aida Guzman.”
Lt. Josey was fired, for an unrelated incident back in October, after he was caught on cell phone video hitting a woman in Philadelphia after a parade.
He is currently trying to get his job back.
"I pray that he gets some help. He needs some mental help, some anger management, he needs some help where he knows how to deal with people in public," said Lewis.
