Traffic stops: New ideas on positioning, movement, and safety

Helping police officers struck by the Moore tornado

Create a positive grant environment

Investigating Twitter: Mining social media for intel

Designing a predictive policing system

Avoiding hindsight bias in evaluating critical incidents

Traffic stops: 11 key tips and tactics

Officer needs assistance: Are you ready to really help?

Thanks to 'the guys' who taught this female cop to be an FTO

Is 'pension spiking' milking taxpayers or smart personal finances?

2 traffic stops, 2 very different outcomes

Active shooters in schools: A template for police trainers

October 19, 2012

EmailPrintCommentRSS

Video: NJ lawmaker sues patrolman over traffic stop

Officer says the legislator cut him off near a Chick-fil-A restaurant

By Edward Colimore
The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — A Gloucester County assemblyman charged with drunken driving after declining to take a breath test over the summer has filed a 27-count criminal complaint against the arresting patrolman, accusing him of lying and falsifying a police report.

Democratic Assemblyman Paul Moriarty said Wednesday that he was wrongfully pulled over July 31 by Washington Township Police Officer Joseph DiBuonaventura, who accused the legislator of cutting him off near a Chick-fil-A restaurant on Greentree Road in Turnersville.
Moriarty's complaint, announced Wednesday, accuses the officer of official misconduct, perjury, filing false reports, and falsifying and tampering with public records, among other alleged violations.

A Municipal Court judge or court administrator will evaluate the complaint and decide whether charges will be issued, said Moriarty's attorney, John C. Eastlack Jr.

"What happened to me a few months ago shouldn't happen to anyone," said Moriarty, 56, also a former CBS3 reporter.

Township Police Chief Rafael Muniz said Wednesday that the misconduct allegations had been referred to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office for investigation.

Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, said that his office had not seen Moriarty's complaint and that prosecutors were "limited in what they can say."

Township Police Capt. Richard Leonard was unavailable for comment Wednesday. DiBuonaventura and his police union representative, Officer Joe Micucci, also could not be reached.