Voorhees
pays $60,000 to settle police false arrest/malicious prosecution suit
On June 15, 2011, the Township of Voorhees (Camden County NJ)
agreed to pay $60,000 to a local man who sued members of the Voorhees Police
Department for allegedly arresting him without probable cause because he
"needed an education."
In his suit, Michael Sebastian, Jr. said that on June 12,
2007, the day after he was arrested for contempt of court after having been
found guilty of a traffic violation, he needed police assistance regarding an
attempted burglary at his home. The
officers who responded, Carlos Garcia-Lazar and Anthony Rusterucci, questioned
him as to what he would do if he found an intruder in his home. After Sebastian responded that he would use
all necessary force, including deadly force, the officers allegedly told him
that use of force wouldn't be appropriate if the intruder was a police officer
serving a warrant. Sebastian said that
he explained to the officers that he did not mean that he would use force
against an officer, rather that he understood the question to be limited to
illegal, unidentified intruders.
According to the complaint, the two officers consulted with
Lieutenant Francis Bialeki and Sergeant Robert Woolston who caused a warrant to
be issued charging Sebastian with "making a terroristic threat to kill a
township official." Thereafter,
about a dozen police officers came to Sebastian's home, arrested him and took
him to the police station where he was allegedly denied access to an attorney
and detained and questioned for five hours.
Sebastian claimed that Officer Richard Monahan told him that that the
arrest was precipitated by his actions in the municipal court the previous day.
Monahan alleged that the Camden County Prosecutor's Office
declined to indict him for the terroristic threats charge and that the matter
was returned to municipal court for disposition. The municipal court ultimately dismissed the
charges after police officers failed to appear to testify on the State's
behalf.
Also named in the suit were Voorhees Police Officers Daniel
Starks and Lance Klein.