According to his attorney, much of the incident was captured on a mobile video recorder, or dash-cam, inside the police cruiser.
A 57-year-old Florida man has filed a federal lawsuit against Raritan Township, its police department and several officers, claiming he was the victim of excessive force when he came to the aid of his daughter during a traffic stop.
Dennis Shuman alleges his civil rights were violated and he suffered various injuries, including a fractured elbow, when he was thrown to the pavement and violently handcuffed by police during the 2012 incident. In addition, the lawsuit contends an internal review of the incident conducted by the police department was a "sham" and ignored video evidence of the officer's wrongdoing.
"My client was not causing problems," his Springfield, N.J.-based attorney, Shelley Stangler, said Tuesday. "There was no reason for any of this to occur."
Raritan Township police declined comment, citing the pending litigation. Township attorney Albert Cruz also declined comment. He said he had not yet seen the lawsuit; as of Tuesday, the township had yet to be served with the 23-page complaint, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
Previous concerns
According to his attorney, Shuman was visiting family in Hunterdon County on Aug. 5, 2012, when his daughter, Alexa Shuman, was stopped by police on South Main Street for allegedly turning without a signal. The stop came as the elder Shuman had already planned to speak with Chief Glenn Tabasko about a pattern of "harassing and intimidating" behavior by officers who had been unfairly targeting his daughter in the weeks before, the suit claims.
After Shuman drove to where his daughter had been stopped and approached officers on foot, he requested to speak to the chief and three times was ordered to return to his vehicle, the lawsuit says.
As he turned to walk back to his car, Shuman began using his cellphone to call the chief, the suit says. As he did, Shuman alleges, officer David Carson, a 15-year veteran of the department, violently threw him to the hood of a patrol car and then to the ground, where his head struck the curb.
Carson jumped on Shuman's back, according to the lawsuit, and hyper-extended his arm as he handcuffed him. Two other officers soon arrived and pinned Shuman's elbow back, leaving him gasping for air, according to court papers.
Shuman says he was arrested and taken to the Hunterdon Medical Center in the township, where he was treated for a wound to his head. Additional injuries included several tears to the retina of his left eye, a chipped fracture to his left elbow and nerve damage in his left arm and hand, the lawsuit states.
Caught on video
According to his attorney, much of the incident was captured on a mobile video recorder, or dash-cam, inside the police cruiser.
"It certainly captures enough for a reasonable person to see that excessive force was used unnecessarily," she said.
Stangler declined to release the video to The Express-Times because of confidentiality concerns. A police department secretary said Tuesday she had to consult the township attorney to determine whether the video can be released under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act.
Shuman, who was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest in the indecent, claims in the lawsuit that several officers conspired with one another to submit a police report that was "false and inaccurate."
Despite his later pleading guilty to the charge of obstruction of justice, Stangler claimed police severely overreacted and called for better training procedures within the department.
"Regardless of what he pleaded guilty to, there was absolutely no basis for the police to use any force on this man," she said.
The suit also alleges police brass failed to see that a proper internal investigation was conducted into Shuman's complaint, allowing the internal affairs process to be "a sham and a farce with the conclusion of unsubstantiated charges."
"Internal affairs' response was wholly inadequate and does not instill public confidence," Stangler said. "Based on my review of the facts in this case, there should have absolutely been some discipline on officer Carson as a result of what happened."
The lawsuit demands damages, plus interest, as well as legal fees. The complaint does not specify a dollar figure but says the requested amount exceeds $75,000.
