Lakewood Cop Smear – Accuser Has Little Support, Except For Haredim

Nicole Robinson's attempt to whip up non-haredi public support for her allegations of police brutality have faltered. The Asbury Park Press reports:

A protest rally to spotlight a woman's claims she was beaten by a township police officer drew only a handful of people Tuesday to Town Square.

Nichole Robinson, the woman who says she was beaten last month by embattled Patrolman Erik Menck, said the rally was canceled because Public Safety Director Al Peters told her that organizers needed a permit.

Peters said he told Robinson that no permit was necessary.

The rally will be rescheduled for next month, Robinson said, but the disagreement is her latest with the township since she went public last week with allegations of police brutality.

On Nov. 20, four police officers, including Menck, went to Robinson's Coventry Square town house to question her about a disorderly persons call earlier that day.

Robinson maintains Menck asked her for a statement and then beat her in front of her two children. Wearing a bandage on her left arm, Robinson said Tuesday she suffered injuries to her arm, her hand and her back.  [The doctor's diagnostic notes do not support this claim.]

Police say Robinson attacked Menck while he attempted to get a statement from her. Robinson was then taken to Kimball Medical Center for treatment of asthma, police add.

Robinson, 29, says she does not suffer from asthma. After the incident, she was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and her father, Horace Cody, 66, was charged with interfering with an arrest.

Robinson later filed a formal complaint against Menck, she said Tuesday. She also has retained a lawyer, who said last week he plans to sue the township for damages.

Robinson said Tuesday she has received a lot of support from members of the Orthodox Jewish community, some of whom distrust Menck because he charged a respected rabbi with assault over the summer.

Menck charged Rabbi Yosef Bursztyn, 62, with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest after a physical confrontation on Forest Avenue on June 26.

An Internal Affairs investigation cleared Menck of wrongdoing, but the altercation sparked tension between some in the Orthodox community and the Police Department.

Bursztyn's charges are still pending at the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Robinson has changed her story several times and her claims do not match the doctor's diagnostic notes from the night of the incident. She has promised to release medical records to back her claim, but has failed to do so. Yet it appears that the haredi community is still behind Robinson and may be giving her more than moral support in an attempt to keep Rabbi Bursztyn out of jail. Smearing a police officer is apparently kosher for that purpose.

Extensive coverage of this incident can read here.