LONG BRANCH - The disabled widow of a murdered city man is suing the Long Branch Police Department, claiming her civil rights and those of her late husband were violated during a 2016 incident a year before he was killed.

Mariana Ramon, 54, names seven officers in the Nov. 23 complaint alleging excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution and six other civil rights violations.

One of the officers Ramon claims is responsible for physically abusing her and husband Hector Mejia is listed as a "D. Perez," but the complaint also says the female officer isn't named in the police report and "cannot be fully identified" until evidence is collected during the lawsuit process.

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The other officers named in the suit are S. Eskridge, A. Gonazlez, J. Beirne, V. Roselli and G. Samol. Ramon, who is suing the department individually and on behalf of her husband's estate, is represented by Conrad J. Benedetto of Voorhees and Soloman M. Radner of the Excolo Law Firm in Michigan.

Mejia, 46, was robbed and shot to death on Ramon's front porch on July 16, 2017. Long Branch resident Jeffrey Williams, 30, was convicted for felony murder and reckless manslaughter in October. The lawsuit does not claim police did anything improper in their response to the 2017 homicide. The suit focuses only on the 2016 incident.

Long Branch Police Chief Jason Roebuck said he could not comment on pending litigation.

'Humiliated'

According to the lawsuit, the situation began when Ramon called the police at about 11 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2016, while at a Metro PCS store on Broadway after having "issues" with an employee. She accompanied Mejia, who had recently bought two phones from the store, to help him translate. Mejia's native language is Spanish.

Ramon told the Asbury Park Press on Tuesday the first phone didn't work after her husband bought it, and he brought it back to the store the next day to get fixed. Because he needed a phone for work, he took the advice of the employee and bought a second phone while the first was being fixed.

But after Mejia made many attempts to get the first phone back over several days, the couple went in to try to get a refund for the broken phone.

"It was back and forth too much," Ramon said. "My husband said he wanted his money back, not the phone."

After talking with the Metro PCS employee, Ramon decided to call the police, she said.

When the police arrived at the store, they told her they couldn't help her and wouldn't write a report, according to the complaint.

When Ramon started writing down the names of the officers at the scene — an act that the lawsuit says is protected under the First Amendment — the officer identified as "Perez" in the suit grabbed the pen out of her hand, yelled at her and demanded Mejia's identification, the complaint said.

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Ramon asked the officer to explain why they needed his ID if the police weren't writing a report. The officer told the couple to leave, but just before they could, told them they were both under arrest, the lawsuit stated.

When Ramon asked why she was under arrest and tried to use her cell phone to "call for help," one of the officers knocked the phone out of her hands, causing her glasses to fall from her face, the lawsuit claims. The complaint said Ramon and Mejia tried to explain she was disabled, and that she was responsible for taking care of her disabled daughter, who was 10 at the time.

Ramon was hit by a car in 2013 and has trouble walking, as well as chronic pain in her back and hips, she told the Press.

Officer Stone punched Mejia in the face, threw him to the ground and arrested him, the complaint said. Ramon alleges in the suit that Mejia wasn't doing anything illegal or acting aggressively.

The two were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The resisting charges were dropped by the department, and the disorderly charges were later dismissed in municipal court, the lawsuit said.

"I was humiliated," Ramon said in the interview. "They made me feel sick and uncomfortable. I wanted to throw up."

When the officers put Ramon in the car, "Perez" pulled her hair and "intentionally slammed her head into the door twice," according to the lawsuit. Once in the car, "Perez" punched Ramon in the stomach, lower back and hip, even though she was still handcuffed, the complaint said.

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"Perez" threatened to keep her "in jail for days," and when they arrived at the police station, dragged her out of the car by her hair, she claims in the complaint. She also told her, "You are lucky I don't punch you," according to the complaint.

Officer Roselli, while back at the station, told Ramon her child would be taken away if she didn't cooperate, according to the suit. The officer also said they were going to her house to "take" her disabled daughter, and that they'd be keeping Ramon's pen as evidence as a weapon — and then laughed about it, the complaint said.

Stone pointed to the bruises on Mejia's face and said "he didn't want me to arrest him, so I punched him," the complaint said.

After being released, Ramon was treated at a local hospital for her injuries, the lawsuit said.

"Police officers’ use of excessive force against citizens is bad enough, but unlawfully arresting people on trumped-up criminal charges as we alleged happened here is particularly shocking,” Benedetto, Ramon's attorney, said in a news release.

No court hearing date has been set. It is the plaintiff's burden to prove the charges in court.

This story is part of the Asbury Park Press' effort to report on alleged police misconduct in New Jersey. Keep checking app.com for the latest follow-up stories to our comprehensive investigation, Protecting the Shield.

Kala Kachmar: @NewsQuip; 732-643-4061; kkachmar@gannettnj.com