ONEIDA COUNTY – Oneida County and seven of its sheriff’s deputies have filed their response to a federal civil rights lawsuit, denying most allegations while acknowledging they detained and frisked Jacob G. Larson during two separate encounters in Feb. 2025.
In a 13-page answer filed Nov. 21, 2025, attorney Lori M. Lubinsky of Axley LLP in Madison argues the deputies acted with reasonable suspicion and their conduct was objectively reasonable under the circumstances.
The response comes after Larson filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin alleging illegal search and seizure, unreasonable extension of seizure, unlawful arrest and failure to intervene. The City of Rhinelander and two of its police officers are also defendants in the case, with the city having filed its response in mid-November.
The county defendants named in the lawsuit are deputies Joseph Hallihan, Mitchell Ellis, Christopher Coniglio, Thomas Williams, Matthew Rudolph, Andrew Berg and Luke Drummond.
According to the county’s response, deputies Ellis and Hallihan “briefly detained, frisked and had Plaintiff perform one field sobriety test” when they encountered Larson at a dental office on Feb. 13, 2025.
The filing acknowledges that a report was made by a school employee stating Larson smelled of marijuana or THC when picking up his child. However, the county denies the deputies lacked reasonable suspicion for their actions.
The deputies admit they had not observed Larson driving prior to their interaction with him that day. According to the response, Larson agreed when asked to walk over to the deputies’ squad car, and Deputy Hallihan asked to pat him down, which included checking his coat pockets.
After conducting one field sobriety test, Deputy Hallihan told Larson he was free to leave, and no citations were issued.
The county’s filing provides more detail about the Feb. 20, 2025 encounter at a Rhinelander gas station, which forms the bulk of Larson’s complaint.
Deputies Williams, Berg and Drummond encountered Larson at the gas station while investigating a domestic dispute involving his brother, Jordan Larson. The response acknowledges that deputies saw a male pumping gas into a vehicle that had been identified as being present at the domestic dispute scene earlier that day.
The county admits Larson was placed in handcuffs and was not free to leave during part of the encounter. Deputies also acknowledge they patted down Larson after he was handcuffed and that they did not have a warrant at the time. The response confirms Larson was questioned about his brother’s whereabouts and that he was eventually released from handcuffs. No charges were filed in connection with either incident.
Affirmative defenses
Beyond denying most of Larson’s allegations, the county raised several affirmative defenses, including:
The filing also notes that two of the named deputies – Coniglio and Rudolph – were not present at either incident.
Lubinsky argues in the response that any damages Larson suffered may have been caused by his own conduct and that he may have failed to mitigate his damages as required by law.
Larson’s attorney, John H. Bradley, stated when the complaint was filed that the case is about protecting constitutional rights.
“The Fourth Amendment protects everyone – parents picking up kids from the dentist, or someone filling up at the gas station,” Bradley said. “Those rights belong to all of us, and that’s why this case matters. The goal of this lawsuit is not only to vindicate Mr. Larson’s rights, but to ensure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else in Rhinelander, Oneida County or Wisconsin.”
The case will now proceed through the federal court system, with discovery and potential motions to follow.
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