UNION --The Hillside police union president who issued five traffic summonses to the town's mayor amid an ongoing dispute with police leadership must turn over emails and cell phone information subpoenaed by the mayor, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Hillside Mayor Angela Garretson appeared in municipal court for a hearing on five summonses she received from a township officer who is also the president to police union. (NJ Advance Media file photo)

Hillside Mayor Angela Garretson's lawyer argued the emails and cell phone records would show the tickets issued by Officer Matthew Casterline in July were intended to embarrass the mayor after she demoted the police chief.

"Mr. Casterline aimed to hurt Ms. Garretson," Oleg Nekritn told Union Township Municipal Court Judge Kelly A. Waters during a hearing. While the summonses were issued in Hillside, the case was moved to Union Township to avoid conflicts.

Waters ruled that Casterline's emails and some of his cellphone information was relevant and should be given to Garretson's lawyers.

Waters, however, rejected a subpoena seeking similar email and phone records for Hillside police Chief Louis Panarese around the time of the summonses.

Panarese's lawyer, Christopher Gray, said the chief was not involved in the case and successfully argued that the request for his emails and other information should be blocked.

Municipal prosecutor Michael Whittenberg called the subpoenas a "fishing expedition."

Garretson and Panarese are involved in a separate ongoing civil court battle over the mayor's demotion of the chief to captain. The township council later reinstated Panarese as head of the department, but the legal fight continues.

Casterline is president of the union representing Hillside police and has criticized Garretson's administration.

Casterline was working an outside overtime time job as a construction site in the township on July 12 when he alleges Garretson drove through the area and ignored his directions as he was controlling traffic.

The next day Casterline issued the mayor summonses charging her with disregarding an officer's hand signals, obstructing passage of vehicles, improper passing, talking on a cellphone, and driving through a safety zone.

In court Tuesday night, Nekritn argued that the emails, and cellphone information would show Casterline, and Panarese discussed the summons before they were issued.

"There is no way in heck that Mr. Casterline is going to issue summons to the mayor without the approval of the department administration," Nekritin said.

The attorney for the police chief said there was no evidence connecting Panarese to the incident, and noted that Panarese was still a captain when the summonses were issued. Panarese resumed the role of chief Aug. 1.

Waters scheduled a trial on the summonses for Nov. 22.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.