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HIGHTSTOWN: Court rules for council member

By Jen Samuel, Managing Editor
   HIGHTSTOWN — Councilman Robert Thibault has told multiple media outlets that he will sue the borough for a “politically motivated” police stop resulting in two traffic summonses which occurred during his campaign for mayor in 2010.
   Hightstown Mayor Steven Kirson was not immediately available for comment.
   Mr. Thibault lost to Mayor Kirson in November 2010.
   Voters elected Mr. Thibault to the Borough Council this past November
   A month later, in December, a West Windsor Municipal Court judge dismissed the charges issued by Detective Benjamin Miller, of the Hightstown Police Department in 2010, as unlawful, as previously reported in the Herald.
   And last Thursday, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division ruled in the councilman’s favor — and against Hightstown, the Hightstown Police Department and Detective Miller in their joint appeal against the 2011 ruling of Mercer County Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta to allow Mr. Thibault to file a late lawsuit against them.
   Hightstown, Detective Miller and the Hightstown Police Department all appealed Mr. Thibault’s tort claim stating that it was filed beyond the standard 90-day deadline.
   Mr. Thibault has told the Herald repeatedly that the traffic stop was “politically motivated.”
   According to the appeals court, Mr. Thibault, while running for mayor in 2010, had “advocated for a plan that would result in the takeover of police services in the borough by the neighboring East Windsor Township Police Department, (an issue that) was controversial and the subject of significant discussion and publicity in the municipality.”
   The appeals court said that Mr. Thibault was in his right to file a late notice of tort claim following the events of Aug. 6, 2010. On that day, he was issued two summons, one for driving with a suspended license and for failure to surrender a suspended license, by Detective Miller.
   Detective Miller declined to comment on Thursday.
   The appeals court noted that the detective “claimed the stop was random.”
   Back in 2010, “although (Mr. Thibault) considered the stop ‘politically motivated,’ the documentation and (Detective) Miller’s statements did not support the view,” according to the appeals court. Then, Mr. Thibault lodged a complaint with the Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, which in turn completed internal investigations.
   Mr. Thibault was granted his motion in municipal court for the internal investigation findings to be released, although it took time for him to see the information after first requesting it.
   ”(Mr. Thibault) learned from the report that the ‘random’ stop was anything but random and that defendant Miller had at least one day earlier performed a computer inquiry into plaintiff’s warrant and motor vehicle history,” the appeals court stated. “The investigation report was made available to (Mr. Thibault) on June 29, 2011, and a motion dated Aug. 4, 2011 followed, seeking leave to file a late notice.”
   The appeals court said, “The report, which was not provided to us on this appeal, led plaintiff to conclude that defendants had violated plaintiff’s rights under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, N.J.S.A. 10:6-1 to -2; 42 U.S.C.A. 1983; Art. I, par. 1 and 5 of the New Jersey Constitution; and the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.”
   These constitutional legalities will likely be at the forefront of Mr. Thibault’s case against Hightstown as last Thursday’s ruling allows him to move forward and sue the borough for the Aug. 6, 2010, stop.
   Back in December, West Windsor Judge Brennan ruled that Detective Miller’s search of Mr. Thibault’s driving records was “without probable cause” and stated that the subsequent Aug. 6, 2010, traffic stop was politically motivated and violated his civil rights.