Edmond Brown of Camden sues over Haddon Twp. police shooting
Jim Walsh
CAMDEN – A Camden man who was shot by a Haddon Township police officer has filed a lawsuit over the October 2016 incident.
Edmond Brown contends a township police officer “obliviously and recklessly” shot him as the motorist tried to flee a traffic stop off Route 130 near the township’s border with Camden.
A dashboard camera in a police car recorded the 9:40 a.m. incident, as well as Officer Robert Mulhern’s apparent surprise when he learned Brown had been shot.
According to the suit, Brown pulled over for the officer on Alabama Road, but shifted his pickup truck into drive after being ordered to turn off the vehicle.
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The suit says Mulhern “jumped into the driver’s side window of Brown’s vehicle and reached for the gear shifter.”
It says Brown “traveled a few feet with Mulhern hanging off the window,” and the officer jumped to the ground as the vehicle veered into a parked car.
The lawsuit asserts police officers “are trained not to place any part of their body into a vehicle upon a routine traffic stop, both for their safety and out of deference to the driver’s constitutional rights.”
It says Brown, now 41, initially complied with Mulhern's order to exit his vehicle after the crash and get down on the ground. But it adds Brown then stood up and ran from the officer.
“Mulhern – his service weapon drawn in one hand and his other hand gripping Brown’s shirt – briefly gave chase,” says the suit, which notes the officer wrestled Brown to the ground.
It says Mulhern shot Brown in the right thigh “during their tussle.”
Watch video of the traffic stop below (warning: contains graphic content).
Mulhern learned Brown was wounded a short time later, when he tried to lift the handcuffed motorist to his feet, the video shows.
“Ow, my leg, my leg, you shot me,” the Camden man says.
“Are you shot?” Mulhern responds. "Where?”
Brown was charged with multiple offenses after the incident, including possession of a weapon by a felon. He pleaded guilty to the gun charge and is serving a seven-year prison term.
Defendants in the excessive-force lawsuit are the township, Police Chief Mark Cavallo and Officer Robert Mulhern.
The suit asserts the township and Cavallo “tacitly approved Mulhern’s use of excessive force when they failed to properly investigate and report" the officer's actions.
It also alleges they "failed to train employees properly and did not take corrective action after prior incidents."
"What happened to Mr. Brown is just the latest example of what we believe to be a failure on the part of the township to properly train its officers on how to properly use force," said Frank Schirripa, a New York attorney representing the Camden man.
The lawsuit disputes a finding by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office that the shooting was justified. The prosecutor's view was upheld by the state Attorney General's Office.
An attorney for the township could not be reached for comment on the suit, which was filed Friday in federal court in Camden.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as reimbursement for Brown’s legal bills.
Jim Walsh: @jimwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com
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