Kavan Costello, 18 at the time of his incarceration, was also forced to wear a pink jumpsuit as a form of humiliation, and stay in an unheated jail cell following the beating, according to the lawsuit.
He suffered a concussion, a closed head injury, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, the lawsuit said.
The verdict, reached Monday after a two-week trial, includes compensatory damages of $100,000 each against three corrections officers: Officers Anthony Sanchez and William Nagy and Sgt. Francis Antonowicz; and $50,000 against Officer Paul Tenorio, according to a court document.
The verdict also awarded Costello $100,000 in punitive damages from Antonowicz, who was the officers’ supervisor, and $75,000 from Nagy.
The jury found that all four violated Costello’s state and federal constitutional rights by using excessive force and that Antonowicz had a duty to intervene and prevent the excessive force by the three officers, according to the court document.
“The jury sent a message and I think the message is that people are tired of these abuses happening,” said Costello’s attorney Brooke Barnett of Newark. “But the bottom line is that nothing happened to them. So accountability has got to start from within.”
Barnett said that the four officers were not fired, reprimanded, or ordered to undergo remedial training, and there was no internal affairs investigation.
A call placed to Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden was not returned. Defense counsel Sean Brennan referred the call to Monmouth County Counsel Michael D. Fitzgerald, who did not return a message.
Golden, the Monmouth County Department of Corrections, jail administrators and other officers, CFG Health Systems LLC, Director of Dental Services Keith Dunoff and unnamed dentists were originally named in the suit but were removed.
Attorneys for CFC Health Systems and Dunoff denied the allegations against them in an answer to the complaint, as did the other defendants.
Costello was arrested Feb. 17, 2020, in Ocean Township along with three others on charges of gun and underage alcohol possession. Costello was found with Xanax on him and a gun was discovered in his co-defendant's car, police said. He was released four days later.
During intake at the jail, a corrections officer grabbed him by the throat and forced him to sit, according to the lawsuit. What triggered the alleged violence was not mentioned.
Other officers began to verbally abuse Costello, hurling “homophobic slurs and profanity" at him, the suit alleged.
After Costello changed into his green jumpsuit, several sheriff's officers set upon the 5-foot-9-inch, 145-pound Costello, punching and kicking him in the head, face and body and knocking out one of his front teeth, according to the lawsuit.
“Costello began bleeding all over his jumpsuit,” the lawsuit reads. It alleges that corrections officers then ordered him out of his green jumpsuit and into a pink one.
“It was done to humiliate him and make him a laughingstock,” Barnett said.
They took him to a different location and beat him again, knocking out another one of his front teeth and knocking him out, the suit alleged. After coming to, he was doused with chemical spray, the lawsuit contended.
After the assaults, the officers took him to a dentist in the jail who failed to treat him, and he received no medical attention, according to the lawsuit.
Costello was kept alone in a cold cell 24 hours a day throughout the rest of his incarceration, the suit alleged.
While in the cell, corrections officers pressured him to sign “plea papers,” outlining how the excessive force used against Costello was necessary for the officers’ protection, but Costello refused to sign, the suit says. They promised reduced time in custody in exchange, the suit alleged.
He was told during what was purported to be a hearing at the jail that if he refused to sign, he could face 60 days in lockdown, according to the suit.
Prior to the trial, he was offered $7,000 to settle the case, Barnett said.
Of the $525,000, Costello gets $351,750 and Barnett’s firm gets $173,250 for representing him, she said. Barnett could receive attorney fees in future proceedings.
Ken Serrano covers breaking news, crime and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or kserrano@gannettnj.com .
Officers should appeal and what was the story how it all happened.
Roy Zitzman
3h ago
Ok so why aren’t they fired they just cost Monmouth County Citizens over a Half Million dollars, if the Sheriff doesn’t fire them then he should be Fired
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