South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

From fourthamendment.com: a U.S. District Court in New Jersey denies summary judgment to the defendants in a lawsuit by an undercover FBI agent who was wrongfully arrested and hurt by local police; he was also charged with impersonating an officer after he identified himself to the police:

The plaintiff was an undercover FBI agent working at a motorcycle rally in New Jersey. He was stopped by local officers while in character, and he was arrested and hurt during the arrest when he was manhandled and handcuffed. He identified himself as an FBI agent and produced his credentials, and, after one telephone call to somebody who did not and would not know, he was arrested for impersonating an FBI agent. Defendant's motion for summary judgment denied. Plaintiff presented a fact question for trial. Frohner v. City of Wildwood, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97536 (D. N.J. December 1, 2008).*

Ordinarily, courts will bend over backwards to give summary judgment to municipalities in 1983 actions. And, ordinarily courts will give an officer the benefit of the doubt, ruling in their favor. But what happens when the two worlds collide? The irony, indeed.