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N.J. Cop Sues Troopers Over Arrest

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - December 13, 2006 -- If law enforcement officers are to be believed, there are a few unwritten rules of the road, including this one: Cops don't hassle fellow cops. And this one: Never pass a state trooper, especially on the right.

According to a federal lawsuit, those two dictums collided on the Garden State Parkway in August 2004 when Tinton Falls Detective Gary Wade drove up to Trooper Michael Colaner. The encounter ended with Wade pepper-sprayed and handcuffed face-down on the side of the road.

Both sides claim the other violated long-standing customs on how law enforcement officers interact with each other, but the Tinton Falls officer lost his job over the encounter, and now seeks $1 million in a lawsuit.

Wade, 31, of Woodbury, maintains he was pulled over for no reason while driving to work in an unmarked police car.

The incident was recorded by the trooper's dashboard-mounted video camera and a microphone attached to the trooper's lapel.

On the audio recording, Wade repeatedly told Trooper Michael Colaner to wait until a Tinton Falls supervisor could respond to the scene before taking any further action.

"He was talking cop-to-cop," Wade's lawyer, Susan Chana Lask said at a news conference Wednesday. When asked why Wade didn't simply hand over his identification or immediately state that he was a police officer, Lask said Wade pointed to his badge on his belt.

"It's not a special privilege," she said. "It's just known between them."

Capt. Al Della Fave, a State Police spokesman, paints a much different picture. He said Colaner and his partner, David Ryan, were driving northbound in the left lane of the Parkway when Ryan saw a Ford Crown Victoria zoom up behind them and tailgate them before swerving to the right and accelerating past the troopers.

When Colaner pulled even with Wade's unmarked car, the two officers eyeballed each other and Wade threw his hands up in the air and mouthed the words, "What the?" Della Fave said, citing Colaner's written reports of the incident.

"The actual reason he was stopped is because he passed the state trooper vehicle on the right," Lask said. "Officer Wade informed me it's a known fact among officers that you never pass a state trooper vehicle; you let them pass you. They don't like that."

Della Fave said Wade was argumentative with Colaner from the start, refusing repeated requests to show identification, according to the reports.

"If he expected some special treatment for careless driving and refusing to identify himself, that will not happen, not for a police officer or for any civilian," Della Fave said.

Lask said Wade feared for his safety, which is why he demanded a police supervisor come to the scene and would not surrender his gun to the trooper.

She played portions of the vide from Colaner's State Police camera that showed the trooper walking up to Wade's vehicle, which was pulled over on the side of the highway with its red-and-white flasher lights blinking. After some brief conversation which is difficult to hear on the tape, Colaner pulls his gun and points it at Wade, who is sitting in the vehicle.

The trooper tries to pull Wade from the vehicle, and when he emerges, the trooper sprays pepper spray into Wade's face before placing him on the ground and handcuffing him.

According to a transcript of the conversation between Wade and Colaner provided by Lask's office, the Tinton Falls officer immediately asks "Is there a reason why you are stopping me?"

Colaner responds, "I need to see license, registration, insurance card."

Wade then demands to have a Tinton Falls police supervisor respond to the scene "because you are pulling me over for no reason in my own town."

The trooper informs Wade he is under arrest for disorderly conduct and asks again for his license and registration, and Wade again demands to see a police supervisor.

The trooper then asks if Wade is a police officer and if he is carrying a weapon. After protesting further, Wade says he is indeed a police officer, and that his identification is in a gym bag in the back seat, adding, "You guys are out of control; you really are."

Wade was charged with obstruction of justice, careless driving and resisting arrest. He was convicted in municipal court of the first two offenses, and fired by the Tinton Falls Police Department. Wade, who is appealing the convictions, now works as a contractor and has no desire to be reinstated as a police officer.

"He's upset that his so-called brothers would do this to him," Lask said, calling Colaner "a cop gone wild."

Della Fave said the trooper was justified in drawing his weapon during the encounter with a motorist who was acting belligerently, and who had acknowledged having a weapon.

"He was meeting force with force," Della Fave said. "There's a weapon in the vehicle, you're allowed to go to your weapon."

Della Fave said the case had been reviewed by two courts, as well as an internal State Police probe, which all reached the same conclusion: the troopers acted appropriately.

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