New Jersey prisons slammed with $2 million federal lawsuit for
arrest of innocent black man for seven days, multiple strip searches
and refusing showers, phone calls or a bail hearing when no warrant
existed.
Newark, NJ -- The New York Times,
Village Voice and multiple media have reported that racial profiling
has been standard operating procedure in New Jersey for the last
decade where state troopers stop vehicles based on race. Albert
Florence, a black man, filed a $2 million federal lawsuit in the New
Jersey District Court in Camden against Burlington and Essex
Counties, case No.05CV3619, for false imprisonment, unlawful strip
searches and discrimination during his seven-day unlawful
imprisonment based on a vehicle stop. Mr. Florence's complaint
alleges that he and his seven-month pregnant wife and 4-year-old son
were driving their BMW on I-295 South by Burlington County when a
New Jersey State Trooper stopped them for speeding; however a
speeding ticket was never issued. Instead the State Trooper
handcuffed and arrested Mr. Florence in front of his son and
pregnant wife and took him to Burlington County Jail claiming an
Essex County warrant existed for his arrest.
The complaint
further alleges that for seven days Mr. Florence was denied a
shower, toothpaste, a phone call and denied a bail hearing, while
the county jails strip searched him twice for no reason. He was
released seven days later only because his wife found an attorney
who made one phone call to confirm a warrant for his arrest never
existed. An Essex County Judge ordered Mr. Florence's immediate
release, but, according to Mr. Florence, "Not before New Jersey
County Jail Officials insured I endured a seven-day
nightmare."
Burlington and Essex Counties based Mr.
Florence's seven-day imprisonment and strip searches upon an April,
2003 Essex County warrant for a $1,574.00 Judgment due the State of
New Jersey; however, that warrant was satisfied in April, 2003 and
the satisfaction was recorded in the county computer systems.
Burlington and Essex County Officials refused for seven days to make
a simple phone call or check their computer system to confirm the
warrant did not exist. Susan Chana Lask, Esq., named in the media as
New York's "High Powered attorney", represents Mr. Florence and
informs that after the federal suit was filed, the counties ignored
the whole seven-day unlawful imprisonment by blaming a computer
error and focused on a defense that Mr. Florence was never strip
searched but was only subjected to "standard operating procedures"
to strip naked, submit to a visual inspection and bend, squat and
cough before jail personnel and other inmates.
Ms. Lask
explains, "The counties' defense is stripped of reality! Here, Mr.
Florence was imprisoned on a civil, nonviolent warrant that did not
exist in the first place, then denied basic pivileges of a shower
for seven days and subjected to strip and cavity searches not once
but twice. The first search was unconstitutional and the second one
6 days later while in custody was dehumanizing. The whole incident
violates New Jersey laws and Mr. Florence's civil rights. Apparently
Burlington and Essex Counties make their own laws and ignore our
Supreme Court and constitutional rights."
Mr. Florence said,
"Everyday I fear driving in New Jersey. I had seven days of living
hell, arrested in front of my pregnant wife and 4-year-old son on a
warrant that never existed, then refused any communication, a shower
and humiliated by strip searches. It's all proof that racism and
civil rights are not important in New Jersey; racial profiling still
exists in the police force and the government agencies."
http://www.appellate-brief.com/
A PRESS
CONFERENCE WITH MR. FLORENCE AND HIS COUNSEL WILL BE HELD THURSDAY,
DECEMBER 1, 2005 AT 11 A.M. at 466 Bloomfield Ave, Suite 200,
Newark, New Jersey.
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