Suit against ABC dismissed
Case a result of 1996 program
Staff Writer
AA state Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by Jamesburg police officers against a major broadcasting company.
Judge Bryan D. Garruto, sitting in New Brunswick, handed down his decision on Aug. 28. The case involved three borough police officers and ABC and stemmed from a segment on Prime Time Live which aired in 1996.
The segment, titled "Driving While Black," focused on racial profiling by police. It included hidden-camera footage of three police officers stopping a Mercedes-Benz with three black occupants on the evening of June 28, 1996.
However, the officers did not know that the car’s occupants had been hired by Prime Time Live to drive around in expensive cars as an exercise in racial profiling.
As a result of the show, the three officers — Louis Hornberger, Robert Tonkery and James Mennuti — filed a lawsuit against ABC in 1997 seeking $1 million each.
The lawsuit claimed defamation, false light and tortuous interference, fraud, and violation of the New Jersey Wiretapping Act.
However, after reviewing the submitted videotapes, Garruto ruled that while the initial traffic stop was warranted because of an illegal lane change, the officers’ subsequent search of the Mercedes and its three occupants "appears to be sorely lacking of justification."
In addition, he found that the officers did not get permission before searching the vehicle, "nor did they appear to have the requisite probable cause necessary to conduct a warrantless search."
Garruto also ruled that there was no evidence that the officers reasonably suspected the occupants were armed and dangerous.
The judge also found that, although one officer allegedly received consent for the search from one of the occupants, another officer had already begun the search without asking permission.
As for the claim the broadcasting company violated the New Jersey Wiretapping Act, the judge ruled it legal "to intercept a communication if one of the parties consents to the recording of the conversation." In this case, Garruto said, the three occupants "clearly consented."
In addition, he said, "Police officers, as public officials, have a diminished expectation of privacy." Once the occupants were removed from the Mercedes, the officers did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car.
Jamesburg Police Chief David Lester said he would not comment on the case or its outcome because the lawsuit was initiated by the individual police officers and not the department.

