Howell Settles Lawsuit Over Man's Death At Music Festival

HOWELL, NJ — Howell Township has agreed to pay $350,000 to the family of a Belmar man who died in police custody at a music festival in Howell in 2015.

The settlement, first reported by NJ Civil Settlements, was reached in November in the death of Timothy Harden, 38, who was a volunteer at the Souper Groove music festival, held at the Priedaine Latvian Society on Route 33.

Howell Township police responded to 911 calls at 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2015 about a disorderly person, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni. The officers found private security guards holding down Harden; witnesses told police that Harden had been acting erratically all day and was believed to be under the influence of illegal drugs, Gramiccioni has said.

Harden also punched a security guard who tried to help him and the security guard punched him back, then took Harden to the ground, he said. Harden was "belligerent and combative" with the guards when police arrived. Harden refused medical attention and had to be restrained by police while they waited for EMTs to arrive. Members of the Howell Township First Aid Squad contacted MONOC paramedics so he could be sedated and taken to a hospital, Gramiccioni said. But before he could be sedated, Harden stopped breathing, Gramiccioni said.

Harden was pronounced dead at the hospital at 4:14 p.m. that day. An autopsy showed Harden had cocaine in his system and a blood-alcohol content of 0.11 percent, Thomas Mallon, the attorney for Harden's family, said when the lawsuit was filed.

The lawsuit alleged Howell police and the security guards used "excessive and unreasonable force" to restrain Harden, and accused Howell police of choking him and "fracturing his thyroid cartilage."

The incident was investigated by the Monmouth County prosecutor's office and in March 2016, Gramiccioni said the investigation determined Harden's death was accidental and cleared Howell police of any wrongdoing. A grand jury also cleared the officers.

Joseph Clark, the Howell Township labor attorney, released a statement on the settlement:

"The Township and the Police Department believe that there were valid and sustainable defenses to the allegations in the lawsuit filed in the District of New Jersey captioned Harden, et al. v. Howell, et al. However, an agreement to resolve the lawsuit represented a way to end the litigation, regain control over mounting legal costs, and avoid the risk of an unfounded and unreasonable jury verdict. While the Township and Police Department believe that they would have ultimately prevailed, even the cost of this best-case scenario would have been far more expensive than terminating the litigation. Consequently, the Township’s insurer authorized a negotiated resolution. Had the Township continued to defend against the allegations in the lawsuit, it would have done so by itself. In the unlikely event a verdict was entered against the Township or Police Department, payment of the judgment would have been with taxpayer money. To protect the Township and its taxpayers from mounting legal bills and a potentially fickle jury decision, the matter was resolved. The Township’s decision does not mean that the Township or the Police Department was in any way liable for any of the claims in the lawsuit. In fact, all Howell Police Officers were cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury, the Professional Responsibilities Unit of the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office and an Internal Affairs Unit of the Howell Police Department."

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