CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Matthew Leavitt, the Montgomery police officer suspended after allegedly beating a man in September, is being sued for allegedly beating another man then leaving him along the side of a highway in August.

This is at least the fourth lawsuit filed since October that accuses Leavitt of wrongdoing while on duty as a police officer. All have been filed by attorney Mike Clifford, a former Kanawha County prosecuting attorney.

According to the lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court on Monday, Leavitt and a part-time police officer with the last name Brown stopped Gregory Lee Payne outside of his house in Montgomery on Aug. 12. Clifford said he did not know Brown's first name.

Payne was on the sidewalk when Leavitt and Brown ordered him to walk to their police car and place his hands on the hood of the car. Leavitt searched Payne and then handcuffed him, though he didn't "locate any illegal or prohibited items" on him, according to the lawsuit.

Payne asked if he was being arrested and Leavitt said he wasn't but that he was "going for a ride," the lawsuit states.

After driving around and stopping to smoke a cigarette, Leavitt and Brown took Payne to a wide spot in the road just before the Interstate 64 on-ramp near Cabin Creek.

There Leavitt pulled Payne out of the car, choked him and then hit him in the stomach and chest, Payne alleges in the suit. Brown stayed in the car during the assault, according to the suit. Leavitt then uncuffed Payne and left him by the side of the road.

Payne flagged down a vehicle and had the driver call for police assistance, the suit states.

West Virginia State Police Trooper Paul Green responded and took Payne to the Quincy detachment. He was taken by another trooper to his uncle's house in Montgomery.

Payne and his family members contacted Montgomery Police Chief Pete Lopez about the matter the next day, according to the suit.

Payne is the third black man to accuse Leavitt of assault.

Last week Montgomery Lt. J.D. Burrow said Leavitt and former Montgomery Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson threatened to arrest him when he tried to stop them from attacking Twan Reynolds.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Matthew Leavitt, the Montgomery police officer suspended after allegedly beating a man in September, is being sued for allegedly beating another man then leaving him along the side of a highway in August.

This is at least the fourth lawsuit filed since October that accuses Leavitt of wrongdoing while on duty as a police officer. All have been filed by attorney Mike Clifford, a former Kanawha County prosecuting attorney.

According to the lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court on Monday, Leavitt and a part-time police officer with the last name Brown stopped Gregory Lee Payne outside of his house in Montgomery on Aug. 12. Clifford said he did not know Brown's first name.

Payne was on the sidewalk when Leavitt and Brown ordered him to walk to their police car and place his hands on the hood of the car. Leavitt searched Payne and then handcuffed him, though he didn't "locate any illegal or prohibited items" on him, according to the lawsuit.

Payne asked if he was being arrested and Leavitt said he wasn't but that he was "going for a ride," the lawsuit states.

After driving around and stopping to smoke a cigarette, Leavitt and Brown took Payne to a wide spot in the road just before the Interstate 64 on-ramp near Cabin Creek.

There Leavitt pulled Payne out of the car, choked him and then hit him in the stomach and chest, Payne alleges in the suit. Brown stayed in the car during the assault, according to the suit. Leavitt then uncuffed Payne and left him by the side of the road.

Payne flagged down a vehicle and had the driver call for police assistance, the suit states.

West Virginia State Police Trooper Paul Green responded and took Payne to the Quincy detachment. He was taken by another trooper to his uncle's house in Montgomery.

Payne and his family members contacted Montgomery Police Chief Pete Lopez about the matter the next day, according to the suit.

Payne is the third black man to accuse Leavitt of assault.

Last week Montgomery Lt. J.D. Burrow said Leavitt and former Montgomery Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson threatened to arrest him when he tried to stop them from attacking Twan Reynolds.

Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, say Leavitt and Hutchinson hit Reynolds in the head with a blackjack, kicked him in the back and sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray at close range following a traffic stop at the 7-Eleven in Montgomery on Sept. 26.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department is investigating, and FBI officials have said they are assisting in the investigation.

Burrow also said that race - the fact that Reynolds is black and his wife is white - played into the alleged brutality.

Clifford said he believes there is a pattern in Leavitt's alleged attacks.

"My opinion is that Leavitt has a propensity to target African-Americans as drug dealers," Clifford said.

Last week Clifford sent a copy of a statement Burrow provided to the city of Montgomery about the incident involving Reynolds to Fayette and Kanawha County prosecutors, requesting that they bring the matter before a grand jury. Montgomery is on the Kanawha-Fayette county line.

A letter from Kanawha Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Scott Reynolds says that because the incident and arrest appear to have occurred in Fayette County, he doesn't have jurisdiction to present the matter to a grand jury.

Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Carl Harris left Clifford a message, saying Clifford hadn't bothered to tell him what charges he was pursuing.

"I'd be more than happy to present charges before the grand jury," Harris says on the message left on Clifford's answering machine. "But I don't know who or what you're expecting to indict."

"This is so frustrating, being stonewalled everywhere you turn," Clifford said.

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.