TOPPENISH -- A Toppenish resident is suing the police chief and an officer for jailing him when he attempted to file a complaint against the officer.

Alex Mejia is suing police Chief Adam Diaz and Officer J. Brownell in Yakima County Superior Court for false arrest, abuse of police process and negligence.

Neither Diaz nor Brownell were at the police department Friday and they couldn't be reached for comment, a police dispatcher said.

City Attorney Gary Cuillier, who began working for Toppenish this month, said he wasn't aware of the lawsuit that was filed Oct. 12.

The lawsuit claims that on Sept. 9, 2007, Brownell wouldn't allow Mejia to file a complaint against two men who tried to serve him with court papers at a 7-Eleven store and kept him from leaving the store.

When police were called to the store, Brownell refused to take Mejia's statement and instead handed him the court papers from the two men and said "you've just been served," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit does not specify what kind of legal action the court papers involved.

The officer allowed the other two men to leave the store without incident, the lawsuit said.

Mejia is well known in Toppenish as a frequent critic of city government.

When he went to the police department to complain about Brownell, the officer escorted him out of the station, the lawsuit said.

When Mejia returned to the police department the following day to complain about Brownell, he was arrested by Diaz, a sergeant at the time, and Brownell on charges of making false or misleading statements to police, the lawsuit said.

A judge on Oct. 10, 2007, dismissed the charges against Mejia.

Mejia's attorney, Bill Pickett, said police violated his client's rights and describes it as a "constitutional case."

"It's the police's responsibility to protect the rights of citizens," Pickett said.

"If they violate those rights, it's the citizen's responsibility to go after them and make then do what they're supposed to do. When they violate that duty, they're going to be taken to task."