Howell Police Ignored Suicide Threat Before Man Hung Himself In Jail, Suit Says

HOWELL, NJ — The family of an Ocean County man who died in 2025 when he hung himself in the Monmouth County jail are suing Howell Township police and county jail officials, saying they ignored his explicit suicide threats and took no steps to protect him.

Diane and Gerard Framolaro say their son, Jeremy, died as a result of the officers' failure to follow policies regarding the treatment of people under arrest who express suicidal thoughts in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Monmouth County Superior Court.

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Jeremy Framolaro died Feb. 24, 2025, shortly after being taken to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township by Howell Township police, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Howell police officers took him to the county jail in spite of seeing a text message in Framolaro's phone that said, "I’m not in my right mind. I’m down for suicide by car. I can’t wait until it happens," and noting it in a probable cause affidavit filed in connection with Framolaro's arrest.

The reason for his arrest was not included in the lawsuit and the arrest is not listed in any publicly available records online.

According to the lawsuit, the officers who arrested Framolaro should have taken him to a psychiatric facility for a mental health screening, which they say is the required procedure under state law, as well as under guidelines from the New Jersey attorney general's office and Howell Township policies.

The lawsuit also accuses Monmouth County personnel of ignoring policies and laws that required Framolaro to be placed in an area that is supervised and that they were allowed him access to a bed sheet — which he then used to hang himself — in spite of him expressing suicidal ideations.

"The failure to protect Plaintiff from suicide, set forth at length above, deprived him of his substantive due process rights," the lawsuit says.

Named in the lawsuit are Howell Township Police Chief John Storrow and Police Officers David Jimerson, Joseph Pipher, and Matthew Lawler; Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden; Warden Victor Iannello of the Monmouth County jail and unidentified corrections officers.

"The Township of Howell is aware of the lawsuit filed by the Framolaro family," said Caitlin C. Harney Norcia, Howell's township attorney. "As this matter is in active litigation, we are unable to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. However, the Township will continue to defend the actions of its police department through the courts."

A request for comment from Monmouth County officials was not immediately answered on Thursday.

The suit seeks unspecified damages including coverage of the funeral costs for Framolaro.