A lawsuit accuses the County of Nassau and three detectives from the Nassau County Police Department of wrongful prosecution.
The complaint filed by plaintiff Edward Keyes names Detectives Robert J. Sullivan, Ryan F. O’Leary, and Ryan K. Hayden as defendants. The case arises from an incident on May 20, 2020, when Keyes was in a parked vehicle with Sean Rogers. According to the complaint, two men approached the vehicle at gunpoint, prompting Keyes to flee in Rogers’ car after one of the assailants took a bag of marijuana from Rogers. The following day, Rogers reported the car stolen by unknown individuals. However, during later interviews with Detective Hayden, Rogers allegedly altered his account to implicate Keyes as a participant in the theft.
Keyes accuses Detectives Hayden, Sullivan, and O’Leary of malicious prosecution and fabricating evidence. The complaint alleges that Detective Hayden coerced Rogers into signing a statement incriminating Keyes without probable cause or supporting evidence. It further claims that the detectives made false statements regarding confessions by Keyes and withheld exculpatory information from prosecutors.
Keyes was arrested on August 30, 2020, and charged with multiple felonies. He asserts that the charges were based on fabricated evidence and that he remained incarcerated for nearly two years before being acquitted by a jury on November 7, 2024.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for loss of liberty and emotional distress, along with punitive damages against the detectives for alleged misconduct and constitutional violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The plaintiff is represented by attorney David Roche of Sivin, Miller & Roche LLP. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York under Case ID: 2:25-cv-05193.