Lawsuit against Franklin Borough police alleges brutality and false arrest
FRANKLIN - A lawsuit alleging brutality and false arrest has been filed against the police department and three individual officers by a borough resident over an incident which occurred more than two years ago.
The lawsuit was filed by the Marchese Law Firm which represents Lukas Budzel, who alleges police tracked him down in a wooded area behind his Scott Road home. Even after being tackled and handcuffed, he claims in his lawsuit that he told the officers "he couldn't breathe multiple times, but they stayed on top of him while still in cuffs and his face in the dirt."
At the time of the arrest on Dec. 6, 2021, Budzel was facing charges on previous incidents and when formally arrested a few days after the "takedown," was lodged in Morris County Jail.
While the lawsuit was apparently filed on Dec. 6, 2023, it wasn't until last week that the department and individual officers were served with notices of the lawsuit. The officers named as defendants are Eric Moschberger, Gus Protogeropoulos and Robert Van der Ploeg, who responded to the 2021 incident.
Franklin's police chief could not be reached for comment.
According to the lawsuit narrative, Budzel's parents called 911 that evening telling the operator their son was having a diabetic shock. The officers responded and, according to the lawsuit, canceled the ambulance when they arrived at the address because Budzel was not at the house.
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They began a search for him and, as laid out in the narrative, "did not attempt to render first aid to Plaintiff (Budzel) at any point", although the lawsuit does not explain how they could have given him first aid if he wasn't in the house.
The narrative claims that instead of first aid, "instead (they) tracked him down like an animal in the woods behind his house, tackled him, put his face in the dirt and then handcuffed his hands behind his back."
At that point he was arrested, "without any probable cause," the lawsuit alleges, and he was not "about to commit a crime while he was experiencing the aforementioned diabetic shock."
After he was handcuffed and brought back to the house, officers recalled the ambulance "to treat him for the injuries they inflicted on him when they illegally arrested him." Budzel was later taken to Newton Medical Center for treatment.
The lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial, does not seek a specific amount of money, but does seek compensatory and general damages which would include medical bills, loss of income, "severe emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, disfigurement and physical pain."
The charges pending against Budzel before the incident at his home, and the charges leveled for that evening's actions, have been dealt with according to the lawsuit, but it doesn't say how. The lawsuit does note that Budzel spent 13 days in the Morris County Jail.
The lawsuit alleges that the officers knew of the charges pending when they responded on Dec. 6, 2021 and knew the new charges would result in him being incarcerated.
The charges lodged as a result of the December 2021 incident, were scheduled for trial on Nov. 30, but Protogeropoulos, who was the state's chief witness, did not appear and the case was dismissed.
This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Franklin Borough police NJ face lawsuit claiming brutality
