Anti-Hate Group Files Lawsuit For Information On Bridgewater Cops

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — An anti-hate group has filed another lawsuit against Bridgewater. This time alleging the township failed to release information about Bridgewater Police Officers.

The lawsuit filed on April 8 says that Rise Against Hate, a 501 (c)(3) group, emailed an OPRA request to the township on Feb. 24 requesting "police officers names employed by Bridgewater police, salary, years of service, age, and gender at present date in a tab delimited format."

The suit alleges the township only provided the salary information, without any other information. Thus the lawsuit was filed claiming Open Public Record Act (OPRA) violations.

New Jersey residents Benjamin Shore and De'onte Hannah, founders of the organization are demanding judgment against the township and township clerk Linda Doyle for the complete release of records relating to their request. The suit is also demanding an award to cover attorney's fees, court costs and pre and post judgement interest. (See the full lawsuit below)

Wells Winegar, Deputy Township Administrator for Bridgewater, released the following statement to Patch in response to the lawsuit:

"This lawsuit stemmed from what amounts to be a clerical error in which our Clerk’s Office inadvertently sent the response to the incorrect requestor. We have since provided the requestor with the documents that were already prepared for their request and asked that they consider withdrawing their lawsuit as it was based on a minor clerical mistake due to the volume of OPRA requests received following the incident at the Bridgewater Commons Mall. Our Clerk’s Office, in conjunction with our Township Attorney and Police Records Department, have always done a remarkable job and, especially so during this period of increased activity," said Winegar.

The incident at the Bridgewater Commons went viral after a video began circulating showing Bridgewater Police's handling of a teen mall fight that raised questions of racial disparity.

Founder of Rise Against Hate, Benjamin Shore, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Second Lawsuit

Rise Against Hate also recently submitted a previous lawsuit against Bridgewater in January along with several other municipalities in an effort to inform residents about, what the group says, are racial disparities among the police departments in their towns. Read More: Bridgewater Email Addresses May Be Released To Anti-Hate Group

The lawsuit claimed it submitted a public record request for access to the towns' newsletter mailing lists and was denied.

Shore said his group's purpose in gaining access to residents' emails is to inform them about their findings in regards to racial disparities in their towns.

Lawsuit filed on April 8:

Rise Against Hate vs. Bridgewater Township by Alexis Tarrazi on Scribd

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