A Corvallis man arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants — even though he was sober at the time — is suing the city and former Corvallis police officer Dave Cox. A second lawsuit also might be waiting in the wings.

On June 17, 2007, Cox cited Brian J. Noakes for DUII after a traffic stop near the Oregon State University campus. Citing Noakes’ glazed and bloodshot eyes, Cox accused the 23-year-old accountant of driving under the influence of marijuana. Noakes said his eyes were red due to a cold, and that he had never used illegal drugs.

While Noakes was being placed under arrest, his wife, Aslan, approached Cox and asked what was happening. Cox reportedly threatened to use his stun gun on her if she didn’t back off. She also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

A breath test at the county jail showed that Noakes had no alcohol in his system. A urine sample sent to the state police crime lab came back negative for drugs. The district attorney declined to prosecute the case.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages plus legal fees for false arrest and civil rights violations. It also claims the city was negligent by failing to properly supervise Cox, despite a string of similar unjustified DUII arrests.

“Brian Noakes was not an isolated incident,” said Dan Rayfield, an attorney with the Albany firm of Weatherford, Thompson, Cowgill, Black & Schultz, who are representing the Noakeses.

The lawsuit cites three earlier cases in which Cox arrested drivers on charges of DUII-drugs: Joshua Sauter, arrested in March 2004; Eric Stavale, arrested in August 2004; and Carl Feher, arrested in June 2006.

Documents provided to the Gazette-Times by the Corvallis Police Department confirm that all three men tested negative for drugs. The district attorney’s office either declined to prosecute or dropped the charges.

Two of those cases resulted in out-of-court financial settlements, with Sauter receiving $2,500 and Stavale $3,000, according to Assistant City Manager Ellen Volmert. No compensation has yet been paid to Feher, and that case could wind up in court as well.

Rayfield has now signed on as Feher’s attorney and recently approached the city’s insurance carrier about a financial settlement in that case. Rayfield opened similar negotiations on Noakes’ behalf but filed suit after the two sides failed to agree on the amount of compensation.

“If a settlement is not able to be reached” in Feher’s case, “a lawsuit may be filed,” Rayfield said.

Rayfield added that he considered the Sauter and Stavale settlements too low, especially in light of the fact that Oregon law does not allow arrests for traffic offenses — including driving under the influence — to be expunged from a person’s legal record. That sort of permanent black mark, he argued, can exact a stiff price in terms of lost employment or other opportunities.

That’s the price Brian Noakes might have to pay for his DUII arrest, Rayfield said, even though blood and breath tests cleared him of any wrongdoing.

“The reality is, he now has an arrest on his record,” he said. “How is that going to affect him for the rest of his life?”

In his six years with the Corvallis Police Department, officer Cox made hundreds of DUII arrests, winning praise from his superiors and a statewide award for his vigorous enforcement of drunken driving laws.

But the Noakes incident ultimately cost him his job. An internal investigation concluded Cox had unlawfully arrested Noakes and improperly threatened his wife.

Cox resigned Nov. 1 and has since left the state.

Corvallis officials referred requests for comment to the city’s insurance carrier, City County Insurance Services. The firm’s general counsel, Mark Rauch, could not be reached Thursday.

Bennett Hall can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.