Lawsuit describes nightmare after police shooting
Cumberland County man, shot during mix-up over 911 call, contends New Jersey State Police failed to provide medical aid
Lawsuit describes nightmare after police shooting Cumberland County man, shot during mix-up over 911 call, contends New Jersey State Police failed to provide medical aid Check out this story on courierpostonline.com: https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2017/09/21/elderly-couple-sue-over-state-police-shooting/688066001/
Jim Walsh, @jimwalsh_cp Published 5:40 a.m. ET Sept. 21, 2017 | Updated 3:49 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2017
.(Photo: File photo)
CAMDEN – A 76-year-old man, shot by New Jersey State Police in a mix-up over a 911 call, pleaded for medical help for almost 45 minutes, then was ordered to walk from his Cumberland County home aided only by his elderly wife, the couple allege in a civil rights lawsuit.
Once outside, the lawsuit says, Gerald Sykes — "in great pain, agony and anguish" from three gunshot wounds — collapsed backward onto his lawn.
A state trooper allegedly flipped Sykes onto his stomach, so the Upper Deerfield man could be arrested and handcuffed with his arms behind his back, the lawsuit continues.
And as Sykes finally headed toward a hospital, the suit asserts, his "hysterical and frightened" wife Margot was taken — against her will and wearing only a nightgown — to a state police barracks.
More: Charge: Camco officer fathered girl's child
More: Woman says drug raid targeted wrong house
More: Suit: Strip club a hurdle for Hard Rock in Atlantic City
More: Gibbstown parents sues Great Adventure over ride
There, the 80-year-old woman was questioned for hours without being told her husband's fate, the suit contends.
The 44-page suit names more than 40 defendants, including a wide range of agencies and individuals.
Defendants include the New Jersey State Police and more than 20 troopers identified only by badge numbers, as well as the Attorney General's Office and other state agencies.
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office declined to comment.
Also named in the suit are emergency-dispatch centers for Cumberland County and the City of Vineland.
The filing gives the couple's account of a nightmarish episode that began when two troopers were mistakenly sent to their home on the night of July 29, 2016.
The troopers went to the house in a remote area off Centerton Road around 11:40 p.m. due to "a series of grossly negligent errors" by dispatchers at 911 centers for Vineland and Cumberland County, the suit says.
It says the troopers, wrongly believing someone in the home had hung up on a 911 call, claimed to have knocked on the front door before walking onto a deck behind the house.
The Sykes were awakened by their barking dog to see a light shining through French glass doors between the deck and their bedroom.
According to the suit, Gerald Sykes grabbed a pistol from a nightstand and approached the door, thinking burglars were on the other side.
When he yelled for his wife to call 911, the suit says, "It is Mr. Sykes' belief that he heard one of the unidentified persons on his deck state: 'Do not call 9-1-1; you will be charged with a false call.'"
Margot Sykes tried to call 911 and told her husband the phone was dead.
The suit says it's not clear whether the phone was not working or if the woman had misdialed. "Nevertheless the fact remains that they both believed that the phone had been disabled by the two unidentified men outside," it says.
Sykes next got a shotgun, which he allegedly held "across his body in the 'ready' position."
At that time, the suit says, one of the troopers fired four shots into the home. Sykes was hit twice in the chest and once in his upper groin.
The suit contends Sykes fired one shot in response as he fell onto a coffee table. The shot was intended "to scare off the unknown intruders," the lawsuit asserts.
It says one trooper sustained a graze injury to his left elbow "as a result of either flying glass or a pellet from the bird shot from Mr. Sykes' shotgun."
The Attorney General's Office said the shooting was justified in a February report that identified the officers only as Troopers 1 and 2.
"While there is a dispute about whether Mr. Sykes pointed the shotgun at the troopers before Trooper 1 fired, there is no dispute that Mr. Sykes was armed, did not comply with troopers' commands and approached to within a few feet of the troopers with his shotgun and revolver," said the report.
It said Trooper 1 believed "his actions were immediately necessary to protect himself and Trooper 2."
After the gunfire, the lawsuit alleges, the troopers returned to their vehicles "rather than attempting to render aid or establish any communications."
It says the critically injured Sykes called 911 and reported he'd been shot "by two men he believed to be 'prowlers.'"
'The wounded man and his wife "spent nearly 45 minutes on the phone with various telecommunicators, pleading for help," the suit says.
"The delay in police and/or emergency care was due solely to the lack of proper communications between the various 911 telecommunicators, supervisors, and the New Jersey State Police personnel involved," the suit argues.
It alleges dispatchers never told Sykes he'd been shot by state police, and never told the troopers that Sykes had mistaken them for burglars.
The suit also says a state police dispatcher never told troopers outside the house that the Sykeses "were very cooperative and were doing everything that was asked of them."
A dispatcher eventually ordered Sykes to "get up out of bed and walk through his home and out the front door before he would receive any medical attention."
The suit, which seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, was filed Aug. 25 in state court in Cumberland County by attorney Richard Kaser of Woodbury.
It was moved to federal court Wednesday at the state's request.
The suit alleges the family's ordeal continued even after Gerald Sykes was admitted to Cooper University Hospital.
"Once Mrs. Sykes was released from the police's interrogation, she was advised that she was not permitted to go to the hospital to be with her husband," the suit contends.
When the couple's two daughters drove to Cooper at 2 a.m., the suit claims, "no police trooper or security guard would inform them of Mr. Sykes condition, and they were told they had to wait outside in downtown Camden."
"It was not until the morning of July 30 that Mrs. Sykes was informed that her husband had survived through the surgery."
Upper Deerfield police shooting by jalt61 on Scribd
Read or Share this story: https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2017/09/21/elderly-couple-sue-over-state-police-shooting/688066001/
Body in submerged car was woman missing six years
Missing car sought after driver is found dead
Documentary honors life, legacy of Camden's Michael Doyle