Man in toilet seat lawsuit passes polygraph

updated 6:58 a.m. ET Nov. 11, 2005

DENVER - A man who sued Home Depot Inc. claiming that a prank left him glued to a restroom toilet seat has passed a lie detector test with questions about allegations that he made previous a similar claim in another town, a newspaper reported.

Bob Dougherty answered 20 questions in the polygraph test, including four related to a former Nederland town official’s allegation that Dougherty made similar claims there, The Rocky Mountain News reported in Thursday’s editions.

Dougherty, 57, had offered to take the test to dispel doubts about his story. The test, administered Wednesday, was paid for by television station KDVR.

Ron Trzepacz, former director of operations in Nederland, where Dougherty lives, had said that Dougherty claimed in 2004 that he was glued to a toilet seat in the town’s visitor center but pulled himself free.

Dougherty has denied that and has said he did not know Trzepacz.

Dougherty’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 28, claims that officials at the Home Depot in Louisville called for an ambulance after he had been stuck for about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, which separated from his skin, leaving abrasions, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also claims Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck. The lawsuit claims he suffered pain, humiliation and financial losses and seeks $3 million in damages.

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