By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
A Colts Neck woman has filed legal action against the Marlboro Police Department in the wake of an incident at her home on Boundary Road in Colts Neck in January. The woman is asserting she was injured by an officer during the police response to her residence.
Marlene Mazur is suing Marlboro Township, Marlboro Police Chief Bruce Hall, Marlboro Police Officers Donna Gonzalez and Joseph Meglio, and 10 other unnamed defendants, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by attorney Thomas Mallon.
In the wake of the incident, Mazur was charged with obstruction of the administration of the law and assaulting a police officer. A Monmouth County Grand Jury declined to indict her and the case was remanded to Colts Neck municipal court, where it is currently pending, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, on Jan. 24, 2016, Marlboro police officers were dispatched to Mazur’s home in Colts Neck to investigate a reported argument between a man and a woman.
Mallon did not return a telephone message which sought to determine why Marlboro police officers responded to an incident in Colts Neck.
According to the complaint, Mazur’s husband had gotten her vehicle stuck in snow at the end of the driveway and Mazur and her son got the vehicle out of the snow and parked it in the garage prior to the officers’ arrival.
The complaint states that Gonzalez, Meglio and five unnamed police officers (John Does 1-5) entered Mazur’s home without consent and demanded to search the residence and to speak with her husband.
The complaint describes the officers’ demeanor as aggressive, specifically actions allegedly made by Gonzalez. The legal document states that Meglio and/or John Does 1-5 followed Mazur’s husband upstairs and entered his room where his children were, and did so without the husband’s consent
Mazur asked the officers to obtain a warrant or to leave her home, the document said. When Mazur tried to call the Colts Neck Police Department she was prevented from doing so by the officers at the scene, according to the complaint.
The complaint states Gonzalez used excessive and unreasonable force by pushing Mazur, punching her in the face and knocking her to the ground. The complaint states the other defendants were present during the use of alleged excessive force and failed to intervene.
According to the complaint, Mazur sustained a fractured right (eye socket) as a result of the use of excessive and unreasonable force. The injury required reconstructive surgery.
A police microphone recorded one of the officers congratulating Gonzalez on her punch, describing it as “a nice shot,” according to the legal document.
The defendants named in Mazur’s complaint face allegations of the use of excessive force, illegal search and seizure, false arrest/imprisonment, the officers’ failure to intervene, malicious prosecution, supervisory liability, unlawful custom, practice, policy/inadequate training, and violation of the New Jersey Civil Rights Act.
The defendants will be represented by attorney John Bonello, who declined to comment on the status of the case because it is pending litigation.