Darien Teacher Beaten Up By Cops As He Leaves Mets Game: Lawsuit

DARIEN, CT — A Darien Public Schools teacher says a group of plainclothes NYPD officers randomly beat him up and arrested him as he was leaving a Mets game at Citi Field in 2017.

Now, Peter Martin has slapped more than a dozen cops with a federal lawsuit claiming they violated his civil rights by wrongfully arresting him, using excessive force and denying him immediate medical attention.

"What began as a collegial outing ended as a personal nightmare," the complaint reads.

Martin, 48, is a science teacher at Middlesex Middle School. He went to the game with current and former teachers from the school to celebrate the end of the school year.

Detective Denise Moroney, a police spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the NYPD will decline to comment on pending litigation.

Representatives of the city's law department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As they were leaving Citi Field, a man grabbed Martin from behind and knocked him to the ground, the lawsuit alleges. Several armed SWAT officers surrounded him and pointed their weapons at him.

Then the officers hit Martin in the buttocks, frisked him and handcuffed him, the complaint says.
Martin said they took him to a holding room at Citi Field, where police wouldn't let an EMT give him medical treatment, then drove him to the NYPD's 111th Precinct in Bayside.

A judge ordered Martin's charges adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, according to the complaint, which does not describe the charges filed against him.

When Martin was finally released the next day, he went to a local emergency room and was diagnosed with a head injury due to trauma and a sprained knee, according to the complaint.

The complaint, filed Aug. 12 in the Eastern District of New York, follows a protracted court battle that included a failed attempt to settle and efforts by the police officers' lawyers to keep certain documents related to the case confidential.

Reporting by Maya Kaufman, Patch Staff