$1.5M lawsuit: Trooper handcuffed then punched NJ woman having crisis (2024)

⭕ NJ woman waiting for medical help was handcuffed

⭕ Trooper punched woman, then held her in custody for days

⭕ Excessive-force lawsuit seeks $1.5M from State Police

A woman has filed a $1.5 million excessive force lawsuit against the New Jersey State Police after being handcuffed and then punched in the face by a trooper. Before the bloody encounter with troopers, she had been waiting for a mental health evaluation.

False imprisonment and failure to intervene are also claims in the federal lawsuit filed on July 31 by Tiffany Conto, whose encounter with State Police led to rare career-ending criminal charges against a trooper, who pleaded guilty last month.

Conto was not under arrest on Sept. 7, 2022, before she was physically assaulted by Trooper Nicolas J. Hogan as other troopers just stood by, according to the complaint.

Following the punch while in handcuffs, she was arrested and held in jail for more than a week, only to have all charges dismissed.

Conto is seeking $1.5 million in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs of the lawsuit and any further award as decided by a jury.

The lawsuit included screenshots from troopers’ body-worn cameras, while also describing videotaped footage to outline claims.

Eight troopers ultimately responded to the 2022 scene in Upper Deerfield Township, the complaint said.

While the initial call was trespassing, a neighbor told police that it was a mental health situation, the lawsuit said.

Conto was told to sit on a curb and a call was made for medical personnel, the lawsuit says.

While waiting, she tried to walk away but troopers physically prevented her from leaving and then placed her in handcuffs, the complaint says.

Conto began to cry while being restrained and repeatedly spit to clear her face from saliva and mucus, according to the lawsuit.

She was then placed, still cuffed, in the backseat of a police vehicle, while troopers told her to stop spitting. Conto again asked for a tissue but troopers did not respond.

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According to the complaint, as four troopers were standing outside the vehicle, the 28-year-old Hogan is heard on footage saying, “[d]ude, I’ll freak out" — shortly before he opened the car door while holding a metal flashlight, punching Conto, the lawsuit says.

After Hogan abruptly punchedthe woman in the face, troopers no longer waited for an EMS crew to arrive, instead driving to the Cumberland County police station.

The woman was placed in a holding cell before being taken to a hospitalto be treated for cuts to her face,the lawsuit says. Hospital staff found her teeth had pierced her bottom lip in the physical assault, the lawsuit says.

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Conto was initially charged with“throwing bodily fluid at a law enforcement officer”, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The woman was taken to Cumberland County Jail and held for 10 days — seven of them in solitary confinement in a windowless room, the lawsuit says.

But by Sept. 22, 2022, all of the charges were dismissed for insufficient evidence.

Over a full year later in November 2023, Hogan was charged with aggravated assault.

The former trooper pleaded guilty to that charge last month and has agreed to a lifetime ban on public employment.

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In a written statement as the plea was reported, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said “law enforcement officers face difficult circ*mstances and put their lives on the line every day. But they must exercise discretion when they need to use force."

The lawsuit also claims failure to train and supervise, saying that state troopers engaging in misconduct were not disciplined nor provided with appropriate in-service training or retraining, leading up to the fall 2022 incident.

Conto is represented byStanley King ofJaverbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins in Woodbury.

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