Officer alleges abuses on part of E.B. police
Patrolman says dept. retaliated against him for raising concerns
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - A longtime police officer is claiming the township's police department punished him for his whistle-blowing activities.

Joseph Marcantonio, a 17-year department veteran, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court against the township and his superiors at the police department, claiming he was punished for speaking out against alleged abuses of power, such as releasing drunken drivers who were not yet sober, failing to arrest fellow officers caught driving drunk, and racial profiling.

Marcantonio, a patrolman recognized over the years for his accomplishments in DWI enforcement, says in the lawsuit that he was treated unfairly because of his "continued exercise of protected speech," going back to 2001. As a result of the department's alleged retaliation against him, Marcantonio suffers from anxiety, depression and a sleeping disorder, according to the lawsuit, which asks for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney and court costs. Attorney William Buckman, of Moorestown, is representing the officer.

East Brunswick Director of Public Safety Barry Roberson said he is limited in what he could say about the legal matter, but noted that township attorneys are speaking with Marcantonio's lawyer. The township is gathering data regarding what he described as the "limited information" supplied in the complaint, he said.

Roberson said he disputes many of Marcantonio's claims, and that they came as a surprise to him.

Marcantonio names several alleged abuses on the part of East Brunswick police, saying the department did not properly care for some drunken-driving violators. According to protocol, those drivers are not supposed to leave police headquarters until they are sober or picked up by a responsible driver. However, according to Marcantonio, one driver who was released too soon went home and hanged himself. Another woman showed signs of liver failure but was not taken to the hospital, and died three days later from liver failure, he says. In another alleged case, a man who was prematurely released went to a hotel and died from a drug overdose.

Marcantonio complains about department hazards to its own officers' safety, unfair evaluation practices, ticket quotas and promotional practices. The suit also contends that the department misappropriated grant funding for the DWI patrol, and that the department destroyed video evidence and permitted the practice of shutting off cameras during illegal searches.

Marcantonio also asserts that he was given no counseling after a December 2000 shooting incident in South River, though that is standard protocol.

As a result of his complaints, the lawsuit alleges, the department made Marcantonio work an unfair shift that caused health problems. He says he worked the 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift, looking for drunken drivers, but that he often had to be in court at 9 a.m. to testify in his cases. The complaint says he lives almost an hour from East Brunswick, and would have no time to sleep between the shift and the court cases. He says his weight increased as result of the schedule, as did his blood pressure.

He claims that his request for a schedule change based on those reasons was denied.

"Many of the claims in there are very surprising," Roberson said.

For example, though Marcantonio says he was denied a transfer five times, Roberson argued that he was given a transfer out of his special unit.

As a policy, he said, the department changes officers' shifts so that they do not present a burden if the officer needs to be present in court.

Roberson also denied the claim that police improperly handled drivers who were arrested for drunken driving, saying that every driver arrested over the past three years has been "released under the current guidelines of the time." He noted that those guidelines have gotten stricter.

"Quite frankly, I don't know what he's talking about," Roberson said.

Roberson further disputed that any grant funding was misused.

He said Marcantonio would have to provide information regarding his claim that other officers were let off even after being caught driving under the influence. He said that if Marcantonio witnessed such instances, he could have taken action.