A New Jersey police officer and his employer, the township of Hanover, are facing a million-dollar civil rights lawsuit after the officer allegedly tackled a 15-year-old boy in retaliation for his use of a video camera to document the encounter.

In March 2012, Austin DeCaro and two friends cut through Black Brook Park on the way to the home of one of the boys in the group. Because the park is closed at night, they were stopped by Joseph Quinn, a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car. The boys sat on the curb on Quinn’s orders. DeCaro, who says he carries a camcorder with him everywhere he goes, decided to document the encounter.

“Turn that video camera off right now, or it’s going to be mine forever,” said a voice on the videotape that DeCaro says belongs to Quinn. When DeCaro asked “why,” there was a scuffle as Quinn allegedly tackled the 100-pound teenager.

“Now you’re under arrest,” the police officer said in the video. “You get off of me,” DeCaro replied.

The video appears to show the camera being thrown. DeCaro says it was damaged as a result.

“They were going to charge him with obstruction, vandalism, and being in the park after dark,” DeCaro’s father told a local television reporter. But when the video of the encounter was shown to the police chief, the department “dropped all charges except for being in the park.”

In May, the family filed a lawsuit against Quinn and the city, charging the officer with using excessive force and violating their son’s constitutional rights. Now Quinn is getting some unwanted publicity thanks to a story on the local television news. The police department declined to comment for that story, citing the pending lawsuit.

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