Woman who says she was attacked in court by sheriff's deputy settles civil rights lawsuit for $90K
A New Jersey woman who says she was attacked for no reason by a Middlesex County sheriff’s officer after a court hearing two years ago has settled the federal civil rights lawsuit she filed over the incident for $90,000.
Plaintiff Bridget Haymon, 39, was originally arrested and charged with assault. However, the case was dropped after officials reviewed court security video, reports the Home News Tribune.
The sheriff’s officer, Lawrence Madigan, was then charged with simple assault and various records-related charges concerning an alleged false report of the incident. He agreed in a pretrial intervention to give up his job and never again work in a New Jersey law enforcement job, in exchange for avoiding a conviction in the case, the newspaper says. Madigan was also fined $125.
Haymon said in the suit she filed last year that Madigan called her back as she was leaving a family court hearing in New Brunswick on Aug. 1, 2012. He “grabbed her arm without a legitimate or legal reason or basis” and “threw her to the ground, jumped on top of her, handcuffed her and arrested her,” the suit alleges. She originally sought $2 million for what she described as back pain, multiple bruises and psychological injury.
The articles don’t include any comment from Madigan.
Middlesex County settled the suit without admitting liability and both sides agreed not to talk about the case, the newspaper reports.
