A small Lakewood area newspaper, the Tri Town News, reports on the Lakewood rabbi, the cop, and the "newly abused." Key quotes:
This week, Nichole Robinson, 29, said she and her attorney are preparing to file a lawsuit for an as yet undetermined amount of money based on injuries she claims to have sustained after being taken into custody by Menck on Nov. 20.…
Although Robinson said she would fax a copy of the police report and the complaint she filed with the Lakewood Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit to the Tri-Town News in order to prove her claim, no documents were ever provided and she did not return subsequent calls requesting them.
This is not a surprise. Robinson's medical records released so far do not support her claim. She promised to release the full medical record, which she claimed does support her. She has not done so.
And then this from Rabbi Yehuda (Yudel) Shain, a leading kanoi:
“Believe me, many times the people who get the ticket are wrong, but just as often the police officer oversteps his boundaries,” Shain said in June. “Most people don’t want to file anything with Internal Affairs because they don’t feel they are going to get any place. We get calls every day because of the problems we get. The police department feels they don’t have to answer to anybody and can do whatever they want.”
At several Lakewood Township Committee meetings held after the incident, non-orthodox Jewish residents said orthodox Jews did not respect the authority of police officers, such as Menck, who were just doing their job.
Rabbi Shain actively supported Robinson in her claims against the police, which conveniently "surfaced" a few days before Rabbi Bursztyn's trial was to begin. Rabbi Shain also made claims of "many witnesses" supporting the rabbi and proving the police wrong. None have ever gone pubic, and Rabbi Shain has refused repeated requests to name them or to provide any proof of their existence.
You can read the entire article on the Tri City News website. (The copy archived below, after the jump, is only for archive purposes.)
Lakewood cop back under public microscope
Second resident alleges use of excessive force by Patrolman Menck
BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff WriterLakewood police and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating a Lakewood woman’s claim that Police Officer Erik Menck used excessive force when he arrested her last month.
Other charges against Menck were dismissed last week by the Prosecutor’s Office, which ruled that Menck did not use excessive force against an orthodox Jewish rabbi during an arrest on June 26.
This week, Nichole Robinson, 29, said she and her attorney are preparing to file a lawsuit for an as yet undetermined amount of money based on injuries she claims to have sustained after being taken into custody by Menck on Nov. 20.
“After meeting with my attorney on Dec. 13, he wants me to file for monetary damages and to sue the township for police misconduct,” Robinson said. “I told him that money was not an issue with me as long as he can get the officer off” the force.
Robinson said her planned lawsuit stems from an incident that occurred Nov. 20 in which Menck was one of two officers who came to her home after she was involved in an altercation with employees at a local beauty supply store. Robinson charged that Menck used excessive force before arresting her.
Although Robinson said she would fax a copy of the police report and the complaint she filed with the Lakewood Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit to the Tri-Town News in order to prove her claim, no documents were ever provided and she did not return subsequent calls requesting them.
Township Committeeman Raymond Coles, who is the Township Committee’s liaison to the police department, Lakewood Public Safety Director Al Peters and Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Gasser, a spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, all confirmed that authorities are investigating Robinson’s complaint about Menck.
They said they could not provide a copy of the police report since the incident is under investigation by Lakewood police and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Menck’s name came to the attention of the public during the summer after he stopped Rabbi Joseph Z. Bursztyn’s niece, Sarah Bursztyn, 18, after noticing she was tailgating another vehicle, police Capt. Rob Lawson said at the time.
Lawson said Menck decided to issue a warning to the woman instead of a ticket. He returned to his patrol car to write out the warning as well as check on her driver’s license when Bursztyn, 62, who was in another vehicle, approached his niece’s vehicle to ask what had happened. Menck told the rabbi several times over his patrol car’s public address system to step away from the girl’s vehicle, but Bursztyn reportedly ignored the warning. After speaking with his niece, Bursztyn then walked over to Menck’s patrol car even after being told to stay back.
Lawson said at one point Bursztyn leaned inside the driver’s-side window of the patrol car and pulled on Menck’s shirt and asked the officer for his name and badge number. During Menck’s subsequent attempt to arrest the man, they both fell to the ground, Lawson said. Menck was able to arrest Bursztyn, who was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and obstruction of the administration of law.
On Dec. 13, Bursztyn entered a plea of guilty to the obstruction of the administration of law charge and was fined $125. The maximum fine for obstruction of the administration of the law was $1,000. The other charges against Bursztyn were dismissed.
The Internal Affairs unit of the prosecutor’s office concluded that a complaint of excessive force signed by Bursztyn against Menck was unfounded.
“This is a fair and just outcome of this matter,” Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas F. Kelaher said in a press release. “While I can acknowledge that Rabbi Bursztyn may have become upset upon seeing his niece stopped by Officer Menck for a traffic violation, such actions by a civilian in obstructing the administration of law can never be tolerated.”
Rabbi Yehuda Shain spoke about the incident several days after the orthodox Jewish community protested Bursztyn’s arrest.
“Believe me, many times the people who get the ticket are wrong, but just as often the police officer oversteps his boundaries,” Shain said in June. “Most people don’t want to file anything with Internal Affairs because they don’t feel they are going to get any place. We get calls every day because of the problems we get. The police department feels they don’t have to answer to anybody and can do whatever they want.”
At several Lakewood Township Committee meetings held after the incident, non-orthodox Jewish residents said orthodox Jews did not respect the authority of police officers, such as Menck, who were just doing their job.
The Nov. 20 incident that brought Robinson, who is a nurse, into contact with Menck, began at the beauty supply store in the Lakewood Plaza shopping center at Route 9 and County Line Road.
Store manager Linda Adamczak, who was off that day, said she was informed by employees that Robinson tried to return open merchandise without a receipt. She said her employees told Robinson they did not have the authority to refund her money, but said Adamczak would be there the following day and to return at that time.
At that point, according to Adamczak, Robinson became angry and damaged store property. She said employees had to close the store for two hours to clean up the damage, which she estimated at $500.
Adamczak said while she was cleaning up the damage, she found papers belonging to Robinson and called police to give them her address. She said the officers went to Robinson’s home.
In an interview on Dec. 17, Robinson described how Menck banged on her door to gain entrance to her home, then twisted her left arm until it popped in the socket after she went to get her shoes.
Robinson said Menck began pummeling the back of her neck so violently that she fell face-forward on the top of an oak table in her home. Its legs shattered beneath her and the two fell to the floor, she said.
She also asserted that Menck became violent with her father, who protested the officer’s actions, and pushed him against a wall with the palm of his hand.
After the struggle continued outside her home, Robinson alleged that an ambulance was called and oxygen was administered to her before she was taken to Kimball Medical Center, where she said Menck verbally abused her.
She was taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River on Nov. 20 and released on $10,000 bail on Nov. 21, according to a representative of the jail.
Robinson subsequently filed a complaint against Menck alleging the use of excessive force.
Peters would not say if Menck has been placed on desk duty in the wake of the allegations.
Robinson is represented by attorney Herbert Ellis, of Freehold, who said Robinson threw an item on the counter which escalated the altercation at the beauty supply store.
Robinson had told the newspaper she had not done anything violent after being told she would not receive a refund.
Ellis said he believes Robinson’s charges against Menck will result in the same outcome as those of Bursztyn following an Internal Affairs investigation.
“I think that politically it’s going to be brushed under the rug,” he said.
Robinson said she is now concentrating her efforts on filing a lawsuit rather than relying on the police department that employs Menck or the county prosecutor’s office that oversees Lakewood police to give her justice.
When contacted on Dec. 13, Lakewood PBA President Detective John Stillwell said he could not comment on the incident involving Menck and Robinson. Instead, he referred a reporter to the court decision in which Bursztyn entered a plea of guilty to obstruction of the administration of law. Stillwell indicated that the decision represented a validation of Menck’s actions in both incidents as well as his strength of character.
Menck did not return a request for comment left on voice mail Dec. 18. [He is forbidden by law from speaking about this event.]