By MICHELLE BRUNETTI
HAMMONTON - A Collings Lakes
man has settled a police brutality lawsuit against Hammonton for $70,000, over
a 2009 incident involving two police officers he said directed a police dog to
attack and repeatedly bite him, according to court documents.
Robert Keeler stated in a
10-count 2011 Atlantic County Superior Court action against the town, its
police department, officers Richard Jones and Tom Percodani and unnamed others
that he was repeatedly bitten by a police dog on April 8, 2009. He also claimed
that the officers involved did not have a lawful or reasonable basis to detain
or arrest him, or to search and seize him.
Keeler claimed to have suffered
severe and permanent physical and psychological injury from the incident.
The town and Keeler signed the
settlement papers March 26, and they were filed with the court April 8. They
included a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, according to court
papers. The paperwork also stated the payment was not an admission of
liability, but “is made for the sole purpose of terminating the litigation
between the parties.”
The suit states that Hammonton
police charged Keeler with five counts of resisting arrest, criminal mischief
and hindering apprehension, which he alleged constituted malicious prosecution.
The first four charges were downgraded to disorderly persons charges and
dismissed in Hammonton Municipal Court; the fifth criminal charge was administratively
dismissed, the suit said.