The city of Edgewater was notified of an initial pre-suit demand to pay $180,000 to a Daytona Beach man after his controversial arrest shortly after getting off work at a CVS in May 2025, a Titusville law office said on March 24.
The Law Office of Telfer, Faherty, and Anderson, PLLC, of Titusville, sent the pre-suit notice March 3 to city manager Joe Mahoney as required by Florida Statute 768.28
In the letter, attorney Daniel P. Faherty said he is representing Paul Adam Wert IV, a CVS worker who was arrested by former Edgewater police officer Daniel Rippeon as he sat outside a CVS store shortly after finishing his shift on May 10, 2025.
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Wert, 22, was sitting on a bench at 10:05 p.m. on May 10 outside the CVS at 1806 S. Ridgewood Ave. in Edgewater as he waited for Lyft to give him a ride home. Rippeon, on patrol, stopped at the drugstore after seeing Wert.
In a body camera video, Wert is seen getting up from the bench and trying to walk to the Lyft car, explaining he had just gotten off work at the CVS when Rippeon stopped him.
Rippeon can be seen and heard threatening to tase Wert and telling him he would release his police K-9 if he didn’t stop moving.
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Rippeon arrested Wert and charged him with resisting an officer without violence.
On June 2, Wert’s grandfather told The News-Journal that he was outraged that Rippeon arrested his grandson for what he said was no good reason. And on June 4, prosecutors filed a “no information” document with the court in Wert’s case, saying they would not prosecute him on the charge of “resisting an officer without violence.”
Then on June 6, Edgewater Human Resources Director Julie Christine confirmed that Rippeon resigned from the department.
In a June 5 Facebook post, the Edgewater Police Department initially said Rippeon had been “separated as an employee.”
Daytona man’s arrest video ‘disturbing and sickening’ according to attorney
Faherty described the body camera recording of Wert’s arrest as “disturbing and sickening.”
“No person that lives or works in Edgewater should ever be treated by anyone like this, especially a city employee,” Faherty wrote in the pre-suit notification. “He clearly lacked any and all training in how to deal with the public he was sworn to protect.”
Faherty told city officials that Wert suffered physical injuries and emotional stress as a result of the illegal arrest.
“As a result of the illegal detention, search, arrest and confinement, Mr. Wert has suffered physical injuries, embarrassment, mental anguish, anxiety, damaged reputation, loss of liberty and freedom, and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life,” Faherty wrote in the notice.
Lawyer says arrest led Daytona man to ‘self-harm’ in jail
Faherty said Rippeon’s reckless violation of Wert’s state and federal civil rights traumatized the Daytona Beach man.
“He was so traumatized by the arrest that he engaged in self-harm while in jail and needed emergency medical care,” the notice highlighted.
In the notice, Faherty told city officials that under the Florida law requiring the notification, city officials have six months to investigate the claim and pay the sum.
“Claim is made for $180,000 under the Sovereign Immunity Statute and this would include all federal claims (no cap on damages) against the city and the police officer individually,” the notice states.
The notice said Wert would release all claims against the city if officials pay the $180,000. If after the six months the city has not paid the money, Wert will then file a lawsuit in court, the notice indicated.
“We will proceed with aforementioned causes of action immediately after the expiration of the six-month investigation period cited in Florida Statute 768.28, and this settlement offer can then be considered withdrawn,” the notice concluded.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Edgewater gets notice to pay $180K for arrest by ex-officer Rippeon
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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