By Joe Malinconico

Paterson Press

PATERSON — The victim in last year’s hospital assault by two Paterson cops — both headed to prison — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Wednesday against the former officers and the city.

The attack on March 9, 2018, started in a crowded emergency room waiting area and later resumed in a private hospital room occupied by only the victim and the rogue cops. The assault was recorded in two videos that were played in federal court last week.

The victim, Andrew Casciano, is seeking $4 million in the case. He was being treated at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center after a suicide attempt, the lawsuit said.

Casciano’s lawyer, Steven Greene, attended the recent federal court sentencing for the two ex-cops, Ruben McAusland and Roger Then. Greene cited details of the crimes that the two men admitted during the court proceedings.

McAusland admitted he punched Casciano while he sat in a wheelchair in the waiting area. He admitted to forcefully slapping Casciano twice in the private room while he was on his back in a bed. Then admitted he recorded the second part of the assault on his cellphone and did not reveal the attack in the official police report.

“Ever since I got punched in the face and abused at the hospital I have been having a very hard time,” Casciano wrote in the victim statement filed in the criminal case. “Now I am having trouble mostly mentally. It has been a very uneasy recovery.

“The officers who abused me have engraved a negative memory that often haunts me throughout the day,” Casciano continued. “The day of the assault I was at a very low moment in life dealing with problems. When this incident occurred it felt like I was being degraded to an even lower low … Police officers are supposed to ‘protect and serve’ not assault and humiliate.”

Casciano said he had to have reconstructive surgery because of the assault, “using a plate and screws to put the right side of my face and eye socket back together.” He said he also has suffered blurred vision, a concussion, headaches and post-traumatic stress as a result of the incident.

The lawsuit also names Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald and Police Director Jerry Speziale as defendants. Besides the civil rights violations, Casciano is claiming false restraint and imprisonment, emotional distress, conspiracy and negligence.

The two cops initially were sent to Casciano’s home in Paterson in response to the suicide attempt, the lawsuit said. But the victim already was on his way to the hospital when they reached the home, so the officers met him at St. Joseph’s, where the attack took place.

Mayor Andre Sayegh’s chief of staff, Kathleen Long, declined to respond to the allegations, saying the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Casciano filed the initial notice of the lawsuit in spring 2018, before the FBI’s role in the case became public.

McAusland had been the target of federal investigators for months before the hospital attack. The FBI has said it had surveillance tapes of him engaging in drug deals while on duty, in uniform, and inside his police vehicle predating the assault.

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Federal authorities recently revealed that they inadvertently learned of the attack on Casciano through McAusland's phone. When the feds confronted McAusland about his drug dealing, they took his cellphone, and there they found a video, which had also been forwarded to his partner's phone, records show.

McAusland has been sentenced to 66 months in prison, starting May 20. Then has been sentenced to six months, starting July 15.

They are two of the six Paterson cops arrested during the past year in the ongoing FBI probe. The other officers — Jonathan Bustios, Daniel Pent, Eudy Ramos and Matthew Torres — have been accused of shaking down motorists and their passengers for thousands of dollars during illegal traffic stops.

Bustios has pleaded guilty, and charges are pending against the other three.