This artist says that being in the wrong place at the wrong time got him portrayed as a perp.
Painter and poet Abbey Laurel-Smith sued the city today over his arrest during a police raid on an East Harlem building last year.
Laurel-Smith — also known by his birth name, Abiodun Oladewa — says he was scouting a potential exhibition space at 2163 First Ave. when he got swept up with two people who were apparently selling bootleg DVDs there.
In addition to getting locked up for about two days, Laurel-Smith claims, cops seized his iPhone, which “contains irreplaceable data and (his) writings-in-progress.”
Although all charges against him were dropped, he’s been unable to get back the device, court papers charge.
His Manhattan federal court suit seeks unspecified damages for alleged civil-rights violations, false arrest and imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
A spokeswoman said the city Law Department was “awaiting the legal papers and will review them upon receipt.”