Woman hit by 100-mph cop car sues Lavallette, JCP&L

TOMS RIVER - Two women, one of whom was clipped by a speeding Lavallette police cruiser, have sued Lavallette and the officer who was driving around 100 mph.

One claims in the lawsuit that the officer's headlights were off during the late-night collision, though police have said his lights were on.

Karen Quigley, 47, of Mamaroneck, New York, filed a lawsuit against Officer Arthur Reece, the borough and Jersey Central Power & Light Co. in federal civil court on March 7. Her friend Barbara Sundermann, 57, of Ossining, New York, filed a separate lawsuit against Reece, the borough and borough police April 2 in state Superior Court in Toms River.

Officer Arthur Reece's cruiser grazed Quigley around 1 a.m. on May 1, 2016, as she and Sundermann were leaving Crab's Claw Inn and beginning to walk to Sundermann's second home elsewhere on the island, according to police reports. He and a fellow officer said they were chasing a speeding car. An accident reconstruction team determined Reece had been driving at or near 100 mph.

The collision and the inquiry into it were the subject of a section of Protecting the Shield, a two-year Asbury Park Press investigation into police misconduct in New Jersey.

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Reece told investigators that he and Officer Anthony Amalfa were chasing a speeder when two people suddenly entered the roadway. He said in a written statement that he kept his emergency lights off but had his headlights on. Amalfa said the same thing in a written statement to investigators.

Sundermann claimed, however, that Reece was "operating a police cruiser at an extremely high rate of speed without the benefit of headlights," according to a civil complaint that her lawyer, James J. Uliano of the West Long Branch firm Chamlin, Rosen, Uliano & Witherington, filed in state court.

Borough police released surveillance footage from their headquarters that appears to capture part of the pursuit, which ran nearly from the southern end of the borough to the northern end on Route 35. In the footage, which you can watch at the top of this article, three cars pass the camera faster than other traffic, all with their headlights illuminated.

A state vehicular pursuit policy tells police to close the distance with suspect vehicles without emergency lights or sirens whenever possible to "diminish the likelihood of a pursuit."

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After Reece's cruiser grazed Quigley, she was left with her leg ripped open to the bone and her nose crushed, according to reports by Amalfa and an Ocean County Prosecutor's Office detective who investigated the collision. She is demanding compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs and interest.

Sundermann claimed that Quigley fell into her and that she had also fallen and "sustained temporary and permanent bodily injuries," according to her complaint. She is demanding damages, interest and court costs.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office closed the investigation without charging Reece, citing Quigley's apparent intoxication and failure to use a crosswalk, as well as nonfunctioning streetlights in the area of the collision as contributing factors.

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Quigley claimed that the nonfunctioning streetlights constituted negligence on the part of the borough and JCP&L, according to a complaint filed by Matthew A. Schiappa, an attorney with Freehold firm Lomurro, Munson, Comer, Brown & Schottland LLC. The utility company denied the allegation in a formal response filed April 18 by Attorney Stephen A. Rudolph of Manasquan firm Rudoph & Kayal.

No other defendant in Quigley's suit has filed a formal response, and no attorney has made an appearance on any of their behalves.

None of the defendants in Sundermann's suit has filed a response and no attorneys have made appearances.

Borough administrator Robert Brice referred inquiries on both lawsuits to attorneys with the Warren firm of Eric M. Bernstein & Associates LLC. They have not returned messages requesting comment.

Reece declined to comment.

Alex N. Gecan: @GeeksterTweets; 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com