Though Skip Dreibelbis said State College Police violated his First and 14th Amendment rights in 2003 and 2005, police said it's telling his case against them has been twice dismissed.

"The courts' opinions have to speak for themselves," State College Police Chief Tom King said yesterday. "Two different, independent courts have thrown the case out."

Dreibelbis, who was a redshirt freshman kicker on the 1986 Penn State national championship team, alleges the officers unlawfully prevented him from videotaping his interrogation on two occasions, according to the civil complaint.

Dreibelbis, who played for Penn State in 1987 before he transferred schools, has pursued civil action against State College Police officers Todd Scholton, Mark Argiro and Eric Lesher through federal and appeals courts, he said.

Dreibelbis' case against State College police was first heard and dismissed by the Middle District of Pennsylvania federal court, then by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the first court's ruling, Dreibelbis' lawyer, J. Michael Considine said. Considine and Dreibelbis' other lawyer, Michael Gordon, plan to take the case to the Supreme Court, he said.

King said he stood behind his colleagues.

"I support the actions of the State College Police officers," he said.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall, who said he prosecuted Dreibelbis twice for violating a protection from abuse order (PFA) brought by Dreibelbis' ex-wife, painted a different picture of Dreibelbis' actions.

Marshall said he sought a harsher sentence for Dreibelbis' PFA violation after Dreibelbis insisted on videotaping visitation time with his daughter.

"One of the reasons was that video camera," Marshall said. "He insisted that that was normal behavior, and it was not normal."

But Considine said barring use of his video camera is a violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights.

"Speech like this is protected speech," he said.

In his civil complaint, Dreibelbis alleges Scholton ripped a video camera out of his hand and threw it 15 feet when Dreibelbis refused to turn it off.

Dreibelbis' ex-wife called police that day in November 2003 when he came to her house to pick up their daughter for visitation. Dreibelbis stayed on the sidewalk as his mother went to knock on the door, taping the exchange to use as evidence if his ex-wife, Beth Berube Dreibelbis, refused to let him see his daughter, according to the complaint.

Dreibelbis also said Scholton and Argiro confiscated the tape and never returned it despite his formal requests.

On another occasion in 2005, Dreibelbis says in the civil complaint Lesher threatened him with arrest when he refused to turn off a video camera as he was being interviewed in his home. Both incidents are referenced in Dreibelbis' civil suit.

Marshall said Dreibelbis received a 20-day jail sentence for violating a PFA in the 2003 incident and 90 days in the 2005 incident.

"It's my hope that the 90-day jail sentence showed him we're not kidding around," he said.