A Haddon Township police officer who seemed surprised to find out he shot a man in the leg during a struggle in 2016 is now being sued by the man he wounded.

Edmond Brown

Edmond Brown, 41, of Camden, filed suit Friday in federal court in Camden against Officer Robert Mulhern and the Haddon Township Police Department, alleging that the shooting was excessive force and police violated Brown's civil rights. It also accuses the department and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office of conducting a "sham investigation" that exonerated the officer.

Brown is currently serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty in 2017 to resisting arrest and having an illegal gun in his truck during the Oct. 29, 2016 traffic stop. During the stop, Brown tried to drive away and crashed his truck into a parked car, as the officer tried to cling to the truck.

Philly.com reported that Mulhern pulled Brown over for having a handicap placard hanging from his rearview mirror. He initiated the stop on Route 130 but Brown pulled onto Alabama Road.

The entire incident was captured on Mulhern's dashboard camera. The video, however, does not tell the same story as Brown's lawsuit.

Warning: Video contains explicit language and violence.

According to authorities, Brown kept giving Mulhern fake names during the traffic stop. With the officer at his window, Brown shifted his truck into gear and Mulhern reached in the window to try to stop him. The officer clung to the truck as it careened across the street but jumped clear right before it crashed into the parked car, the video shows.

The lawsuit claims that reaching into a moving vehicle during a stop is against police training and a violation of Brown's civil rights.

After the crash, Mulhern orders Brown out of the vehicle at gunpoint. Brown initially complies with the orders to get down, but then gets to his feet and Mulhern grabs him from behind, the video shows.

The two struggle as Brown tries to flee, and Mulhern appears to fire his gun at Brown's legs before holstering the weapon and continuing the struggle.

"You shot me!" Brown can be heard saying.

Mulhern replies, "No I didn't."

The officer ends up on top of Brown on the ground and holds him there until another officer arrives and helps cuff him.

Contrary to what the video shows, Brown's lawsuit claims that Mulhern had "haphazardly" holstered his weapon and it accidentally went off later while the pair were on the ground.

However, the tussling on the ground comes after Brown exclaims that he's been shot, the video shows.

Minutes later, Mulhern tries to get Brown to his feet and the latter complains he was shot in the leg.

"Are you shot? Where?" Mulhern asks. After finding the wound on his right thigh, paramedics are called and Brown is treated on scene while other officers arrive.

According to the video, Mulhern eventually told another officer that he was wrestling with Brown with his gun in his hand and "during the scuffle it kind of went off."

Brown was treated for the gunshot wound and a broken finger, the suit said.

Inside the truck, detectives found a loaded Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, over 50 rounds of ammunition and two knives, authorities said. He was also in violation of his probation, authorities said. At the time, he had a pending charge from 2014 of aggravated assault, a crime he pleaded guilty to in 2017, court records show.

The lawsuit claims that what happened to Brown violated his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

It names Chief Mark Cavallo and says that Haddon Township police "tacitly approved Mulhern's use of excessive force when they failed to properly investigate and report Mulhern's use of force, failed to train employees properly, and after prior incidents, failed to take corrective action to prevent excessive force violations from reoccurring."

The suit also says that the prosecutor's office "illogically determined" that Mulhern fired his weapon to stop the "attack" and that he believed Brown was trying to get possession of the gun. The office ruled that the shooting was justified.

Brown is represented by Conrad J. Benedetto and attorneys from Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie LLP.

"It is one thing to unlawfully use excessive force against a civilian as we allege happened here with Mr. Brown," Benedetto said in a press release Friday. "But when a local government fails to properly investigate the use of excessive force by its police officers, it is sending a clear message to its taxpayers and its police officers that the officers may very well be above the law."

The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages and legal costs.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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