Jean Mikle

@jeanmikle

A Toms River man claimed a Seaside Heights police officer told him "This is not a family place" before police maced him and threw him to the ground for no reason.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS – The borough has agreed to pay $500,000 to a Toms River man who claimed police maced him and fractured his back after throwing him to the ground during a dispute on the boardwalk during 2012 Fourth of July fireworks show.

George Hatze, 48, sued Seaside Heights and police officer Robert MacFarlane, Sgts. James Hans and Richard Roemmele, and Chief Thomas Boyd in September 2012, claiming police had assaulted him without justification on July 4 of that year, causing a compound fracture of his back that may require surgery to repair.

In 2013, Hatze's federal lawsuit was amended to add Officers Vincent Capette, Richard Novotny, Russell Moeller and Joseph Vargavic as additional defendants. The chief and Roemmele, Korman and Hans were named because they were supervisors at the time the incident happened.

According to court documents, Hatze said that he and his family were on the boardwalk when MacFarlane ran into them with his bicycle. Among the people MacFarlane hit with his bike was Hatze's then-8-year-old daughter, according to the lawsuit.

When Hatze asked the officer why he had run into them with his bicycle, MacFarlane denied hitting them. Hatze told MacFarlane that he was on the boardwalk to watch fireworks with his family, and the officer told him, "This is not a family place," according to the lawsuit.

Several other officers then arrived, and Hatze said he was maced, knocked to the ground, and hit and kneed in the back and body.

He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to the lawsuit. Hatze later pleaded guilty to a municipal ordinance violation, according to his lawyer, Thomas J. Mallon of Freehold. All other charges were dismissed, he said.

The settlement between Hatze and Seaside Heights, reached on August 1 this year, came to light after John Paff, an open-government activist from Franklin in Somerset County, obtained copies of the settlement agreements and posted information about them on his website, njcivilsettlements.blogspot.com.

Paff tracks and publishes information about court settlements involving government entities throughout New Jersey.

The agreement is confidential, which means Hatze, borough officials and the officers involved are not allowed to discuss it publicly.

The borough and its officers did not admit to any wrongdoing in the case.

Mallon said he could not comment on the case. Toms River lawyer Jared J. Monaco, who represented Seaside Heights, could not be reached for comment.

Paff noted on his website that since the case did not go to trial, "it is impossible to know the truth of what really happened."

The borough has settled several lawsuits claiming police used excessive force in the past three years, although previous lawsuits have been settled for much lower amounts.

Mallon, who has represented the plaintiffs in many of the lawsuits, said he has no more excessive force cases pending against Seaside Heights police.