'Circus Act:' Ex-Branchburg Cops File Appeal In Case Against Police Department, Prosecutor

BRANCHBURG, NJ —A "nightmare," "debacle," and "fiasco" is what two former Branchburg police officers say surrounded their dismissals in 2019 and 2020.

Retired officers Peter Crisafulli and Corey Floyd filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in March of 2021 against Branchburg, the former township police chief, and a police officer, court records show. That case is still active in federal court.

Crisafulli was a lieutenant who was "forced to retire/constructively discharged" by the township in May 2019, with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office behind it, the lawsuit alleges.

Floyd was a sergeant who retired in June 2020 under similar circumstances, the plaintiffs claim.

Former police chief David Young and current officer Kate Proscia-Berger are named in the lawsuit filed March 18, 2021. Proscia-Berger is married to a Somerset County Prosecutor's Office detective, who was at times part of the internal affairs division, according to the lawsuit.

In May 2021, both parties agreed Young would be dismissed from the case.

On April 28 of this year, U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi agreed to dismiss the case after the township, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, and Kate Proscia-Berger filed to dismiss.

Crisafulli and Floyd appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on May 17. That appeal is still pending, their lawyer told Patch.

Their account of events is as follows:

In July 2018, Crisafulli was all but certain to get a promotion to captain, the lawsuit says. Floyd was also in the process of being promoted from sergeant to lieutenant.

At the same time, Proscia-Berger was seeking a promotion to sergeant. Crisafulli, Floyd, and others were assigned to evaluate her performance. Proscia-Berger said to Floyd and others that she would "blow the doors off of the BPD" if she didn't get promoted to sergeant, the lawsuit says.

Around the time Proscia-Berger said this, she filed an internal affairs complains claiming Crisafulli and Floyd had sexually harassed her over the past 12 years. The former officers claim she knew "full well" her allegations were false and malicious, but "did not care," they claim in the lawsuit. They both claim they have not done "anything of a criminal nature to defendant Proscia-Berger or anyone else" in their law enforcement careers.

Department heads told Crisafulli and Floyd in writing that their promotions were on hold. This was a shock, the former officers say. The investigation was referred the Somerset County Prosecutor's office, where Proscia-Berger's husband had an important position in the investigations division.

The plaintiffs say Proscia-Berger's "silly allegations" could have been sorted out within the Branchburg Police Department, with an internal affairs investigations. Crisafulli and Floyd say they asked for the investigation to be referred to the state Attorney General's office, but that they were ignored.

The prosecutor's office was "deliberately indifferent" in the investigation and did not interview enough witnesses, the plaintiffs claim. Crisafulli and Floyd claimed witness-tampering against Proscia-Berger and her husband, as well.

Crisafulli underwent two polygraph tests, "both of which reflected no signs of deception regarding all of his past dealings with defendant Proscia-Bergeer and both of which all defendants ignored," the lawsuit says.

"The saga intensified in breadth, scope, and depth, further humiliating, unraveling, and destroying the stellar careers of Crisafulli and Floyd," they write.

When the so-called "bogus" investigation was done, the SCPO gave Crisafulli and Floyd a choice to plead to an administrative charge and retire, or face possible disciplinary or criminal charges.

"The whole matter was, for want of a better phrase, a circus act," the lawsuit claims.

Proscia-Berger also filed a lawsuit against Crisafulli and Floyd, which the township settled on the same day . She agreed to dismiss her claims against them with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be brought back to court.

Then, the prosecutor's office promoted her to sergeant in the Branchburg PD, the defendants say.

The last update on this case was May 20, federal court records show.