Store owner who filmed Alton Sterling shooting sues Baton Rouge police

The owner of a convenience store where a Louisiana man was shot and killed by police is suing Baton Rouge police, alleging officers illegally detained him for about six hours after he recorded the confrontation on his cellphone.

The video shot by Abdullah Muflahi, the owner of Triple S Food Mart, sparked a wave of anger over the arrest and killing of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old man who Muflahi allowed to sell CDs in front of his store.

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Muflahi filed suit in state court Monday.

In the suit, he alleges police illegally seized his store's surveillance video equipment without a warrant. The suit also alleges that officers illegally seized his cellphone and did not allow him to call his family or lawyer.

The suit says he was kept in the back of a police vehicle for four hours and detained at the Louisiana State Police headquarters for two hours while he was questioned.

The suit says Muflahi was "only a witness" and should not have been detained nor had his store equipment seized.

Sgt. Don Coppola, a police spokesman, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The allegations against the police force have not been proven.

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