Attorney files civil suit after Pittsburgh-area dentist fatally shoots himself inside police vehicle

CENTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) – A civil rights attorney filed a federal civil lawsuit after a popular Beaver County dentist died by suicide in the back of a police vehicle.

Arpad Sooky shot and killed himself while handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser in Center Township in August 2022.

Civil rights attorney Todd Hollis said the officers violated Sooky’s rights by not properly searching her, missing a gun, before putting her in the cruiser. The civil wrongful-death lawsuit is against Center Township, a police captain, a detective and three officers.

The lawsuit alleges that police knew about Sooky’s mental health issues for half a decade and that he owned multiple guns. The lawsuit goes on to allege that police never removed the guns from Sooky’s home after several mental health complaints.

Officers first went to the home to do a security check on his parents. While there, they saw a large number of firearms, including assault rifles and ghost guns, firearms that Sooky was allegedly not allowed to have due to a violation of a recent 302 mental health commitment order.

The officers returned to retrieve their weapons due to Sooky’s mental health issues and a fight ensued. The police disarmed Sookie and placed her in handcuffs. The lawsuit alleges that police then failed to properly search him for additional weapons.

Police allegedly lost the second gun and Sooky shot and killed himself with his 9mm pistol.

Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier asked the Pennsylvania State Police to investigate, and nothing criminal was found.

A police expert told KDKA-TV that police officers are taught that if they find a gun, they keep looking because there may be more. He says qualified immunity may prevail as some would argue that the officers were not violating Sooky’s rights by forfeiting this second weapon.

Ultimately, since this is civil, it will be up to a jury to determine if there was negligence on the part of the officers.