NEW YORK (Reuters) – An N.J. police sergeant charged with assaulting a handcuffed suspect and resisting arrest was arrested after a federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that alleges the sergeant violated his oath of office by not reporting the assault to the department, according to a law enforcement source.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cavanaugh filed a notice of probable cause that stated the assault occurred on June 5 in the borough of New Rochelle.
The incident occurred in a housing complex in the Bronx, the source said.
The lawsuit, filed in July by the American Civil Liberties Union of New York, alleged the sergeant was a public servant who had sworn to uphold the public’s trust and should have reported the assault.
The civil rights group said the sergeant’s refusal to report the assault violated his duty of loyalty and violated his constitutional rights.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The civil rights complaint is the latest in a string of police-involved incidents involving civil rights groups in the United States in recent years, including the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2016.
The N.R.J.’s department is under federal oversight over a 2012 shooting death of a black man by police in which a bystander was struck and killed by an officer in the line of duty.