CLOSE Nigel Sykes is suing Seasons Pizza and the Newport police department after a failed robbery attempt in 2010 in which employees tackled and subdued Sykes, who came into the store weilding a handgun. (07/23/14) 
 
 Buy Photo Misael Madariaga, a deliveryman for Seasons Pizza on Maryland Avenue in Newport, heads out the back door with deliveries Monday afternoon. Madariaga was working at Seasons the night Nigel Sykes robbed the restaurant on Nov. 30, 2010. Sykes is now suing six employees that he claims assaulted him with unnecessary force. (Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Buy Photo 
 
 The first time Nigel Sykes tried to get money from the Seasons Pizza in Newport, he did it with a gun, forcing his way into the business through the back door. 
 
 This time, Sykes is trying to get money from the pizzeria by suing the employees who tackled him and wrestled his gun away during the robbery. 
 
 Sykes alleges assault in a federal civil complaint claiming the rough treatment was "unnecessary" and that as a result of the injuries he suffered during his attempted hold-up, he is due over $260,000. 
 
 Sykes also claims in his suit, filed without an attorney, that after employees subdued him, two Newport police officers improperly used stun guns on him and denied him access to medical attention. 
 
 Normally lawsuits like this are tossed out after a brief review by the court. And while U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson tossed out several of Sykes' claims, she allowed the case to move forward against the pizza employees, two arresting officers and Seasons. 
 
 (Photo: Submitted) 
 
 Newport Police Chief Michael Capriglione said, "It is a joke lawsuit." 
 
 "It is sad to see this kind of suit being looked at. The court shouldn't waste the taxpayers' money," he said. 
 
 Seasons Pizza district manager and Capriglione respond further in a video interview. 
 
 Sykes, 23, of Wilmington, filed his federal civil action in 2013 from prison, where he is serving a 15-year sentence for robbery and attempted robbery. 
 
 In his self-written complaint, Sykes admits, "I committed a robbery at Seasons Pizza" on Maryland Ave. on Nov. 30, 2010, just before 8 p.m. He admits he "displayed" a handgun and that an employee – a delivery driver and one of the named defendants – "handed me $140." 
 
 He says he then started to make his way forward in the store when a different employee grabbed him from behind and other employees wrestled the gun from him, with at least one shot being fired during the struggle. 
 
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 "That is when the assault began," according to Sykes' suit. "All of the Season's Pizza employees participated in punching, kicking and pouring hot soup over my body. I was unarmed and defenseless and had to suffer a brutal beating by all of the employees of Seasons Pizza," he wrote, adding the beating knocked him unconscious. 
 
 In Sykes first 2011 complaint, which is significantly different than the most recent one, he claimed an unknown person robbed him at gunpoint "and then forced me, after giving me a gun, to [rob] a nearby Seasons Pizza." 
 
 "I complied with his commands and proceeded to rob the establishment." he wrote in 2011, adding he informed employees that he was being forced into the hold-up by someone outside. 
 
 In that account, which was tossed out on procedural grounds, Sykes also claimed employees beat him with pots and pans, rendering him unconscious and described the beating as "unnecessary." 
 
 Sykes claims in both suits, "I was aroused from my state of unconsciousness, only to realize that I was handcuffed and being tasered," by the police. He concludes by alleging the officers denied him needed immediate medical attention for the burns and stun gun wounds and other injuries for 8 hours. And one officer used a racial slur, he wrote. 
 
 Sykes demands $20,000 each from six Seasons employees, $20,000 from each of the two arresting officers and $100,000 from Seasons. 
 
 Employees at Seasons remember the robbery and said one employee was shaken up by it for a long time. In the restaurant's kitchen, they still have a trash can that was hit by a bullet from Sykes gun and someone wrote the name of the employee who was narrowly missed by the shot over the bullet hole. 
 
 Attorneys for the two Newport police officers recently filed a response to the suit, seeking to have it tossed out on statute of limitations grounds. 
 
 At the time of his 2010 arrest, police said Sykes was linked to at least eight other robberies including a bank, three other pizzerias, two fast food restaurants and two convenience stores. 
 
 Sykes pleaded guilty in New Castle County Superior Court in July 2011 to five counts, resolving some 51 charges against him including counts related to the attempted robbery at Seasons and the Sept. 2010 robbery of a WSFS Bank. A Superior Court judge then sentenced him in April 2012 to 15 years for robbery, attempted robbery and three weapons counts. 
 
 Shortly after entering his plea, Sykes attempted to withdraw it claiming in a motion that he had not taken his medication that day. Both the Superior Court and the Delaware Supreme Court denied the request, citing the fact that Sykes attorney said on the day of the plea that Sykes had no mental issues and was not on medication. 
 
 In his motion, Sykes also wrote that he should be allowed to take back his plea because, "I'm not good at making good choices." 
 
 Contact Sean O'Sullivan at (302) 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ SeanGOSullivan. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/1rwFI0I 

 A man who attempted to rob a pizza store is now suing the same restaurant. NBC10's Tim Furlong has the details. (Published Tuesday, Jul 22, 2014) 
 
 A man is suing the same Delaware pizza place that he tried to rob several years ago. 
 
 Nigel Sykes, 23, filed a lawsuit against Seasons Pizza as well as the police officers who arrested him four years ago, claiming he was assaulted and injured at the time. It is the latest in a string of unsuccessful complaints Sykes has filed since his 2010 arrest and subsequent guilty plea. 
 
 "It's a mockery," said Andy Papanicolas, the Director of Operations at Seasons. "It's a joke for it to even make it to the courts. It's pretty pathetic." 
 
 On Nov. 30, 2010, Sykes entered the Seasons Pizza restaurant on the 600 block of Maryland Avenue in Wilmington, police said. Sykes was armed with a gun and demanded money but was detained by several employees inside, according to police. During the struggle, the gun was discharged though no one was struck. He was eventually arrested by responding police officers. 
 
 According to Delaware Online, Sykes was linked to at least eight other robberies at the time of his arrest. 
 
 
 
 While serving time in February of the following year, Sykes filed a lawsuit, without an attorney, against both Seasons Pizza and the Delaware State Police. In the complaint, Sykes claimed he was forced by an unidentified person to rob Seasons Pizza. Sykes stated he was knocked unconscious at least twice by employees at the restaurant and then shot several times with tasers by responding police officers. 
 
 Sykes claimed he was escorted to a police vehicle and then punched in the stomach and head and then slammed against the trunk. In the complaint, Sykes sought compensatory damages of $100,000 from the Delaware State Police as well as $100,000 from Seasons Pizza, accusing them of “violating his civil rights.” 
 
 The court dismissed Sykes’ complaint on May 9, 2011. An amended complaint was also dismissed after the court determined that he did not follow the proper processes. 
 
 In July of 2011, Sykes pleaded guilty to charges against him in relation to the attempted robbery at Seasons as well as a previous robbery. He was sentenced in April of 2012 to 15 years for robbery and attempted robbery. 
 
 
 
 In July of 2013, Sykes once again sued Seasons Pizza and the Delaware State Police, making the same allegations. His complaint was once again dismissed without prejudice. 
 
 On Feb. 5, 2014, Sykes filed an amended complaint that was more detailed than the initial one and was also against the Newport Police Department and three officers rather than the Delaware State Police, in addition to Seasons Pizza. 
 
 In the amended complaint, Sykes admitted that he entered the business and displayed a revolver handgun. 
 
 
 
 “The defendant handed me $140,” Sykes wrote. 
 
 Sykes then claimed he was grabbed by one of the employees as he tried to leave the store. 
 
 “After a short struggle, the defendants successfully obtained the handgun from me,” he wrote. “That is when the assault began.” 
 
 In the complaint, Sykes claimed the employees punched and kicked him and poured hot soup over his body. 
 
 “I was unarmed and defenseless and had to suffer a brutal beating by all the employees of Seasons Pizza,” Sykes wrote. 
 
 
 
 Sykes claimed he was eventually knocked unconscious and then assaulted by three responding Newport Police officers. 
 
 “They handcuffed me behind my back,” Sykes wrote. “I was aroused from my state of unconsciousness only to realize that I was handcuffed and being tasered. I was tasered a total of three consecutive times while handcuffed.” 
 
 In the lawsuit, Sykes claimed one of the officers called him a racial slur and that he was denied medical treatment despite paramedics being at the scene. Sykes claims he continues to suffer the effects of the beating, including bruises, headaches, contusions and burns. 
 
 Sykes sued the Newport Police Department for $100,000, three Newport Police Officers for a total of $60,000, Seasons Pizza for $100,000 and six employees of Seasons Pizza for a total of $120,000. 
 
 On April 17, the court dismissed the claims made against the Newport Police Department as well as one of the officers. However, the court also allowed Sykes to proceed on the assault claims against Seasons Pizza and its employees as well as the excessive force claims against the two other Newport officers. 
 
 On July 16, attorneys for the two officers filed a motion to dismiss Sykes’ complaint. 
 
 Executives at Seasons Pizza's corporate office say that everything that happened to Sykes was caused by his decision to rob the store. Newport Police Chief Michael Capriglione told NBC10 the lawsuit was a frivolous waste of taxpayer time and money.
– Nigel Sykes' attempted robbery of a Delaware pizzeria failed miserably—but he'd still like to get some cash out of the whole to-do. Armed with a gun, Sykes, 23, busted into the back door of Newport's Seasons Pizza in 2010 but eventually got tackled by employees. In a federal civil complaint, filed without an attorney, Sykes admits, "I committed a robbery at Seasons Pizza" but now alleges that the workers "unnecessary" roughed him up during that robbery, the News Journal reports. He wants $260,000 from the pizzeria, its employees, and Delaware State Police for his troubles. Though NBC Philadelphia reports similar complaints from Sykes have been thrown out in the past, a judge has so far allowed this latest suit—which Newport's police chief calls "a joke"—to move forward. Sykes' self-written suit alleges the pizzeria's employees forced his gun from his hand, then "participated in punching, kicking and pouring hot soup over my body" while "I was unarmed and defenseless." Sykes, who's serving a 15-year sentence for robbery and attempted robbery, also argues he was knocked unconscious and awoke to two police officers using stun guns on him.