In A.C. beating case, jurors deal with vague video

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by By Julia Terruso, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER CAMDEN Surveillance footage of an encounter between Michael Troso and Atlantic City police officers clearly shows Troso being pulled away from a large group of people gathered outside a casino. But when the camera angle shifts, the picture becomes darker and it's difficult to make out anything but the figure of Troso being held face down on a police car, surrounded by three officers. Jurors must determine what happened on the hood of that car: whether police beat Troso randomly and ruthlessly on the night of his bachelor party in 2008, as he contends, or whether he was being appropriately subdued after interfering with the arrest of a friend. Attorneys presented both stories in federal court in Camden over the last week. Troso, 39, a former deputy attorney general who was fired after the incident, sued Atlantic City, its police department, and five officers who were there that night, saying they used excessive force, falsely arrested and imprisoned him, and conspired to do so. The department also is charged with failing to properly train its officers in use-of-force practices. Four of the officers, Joshua L. Vadell, Syed Shah, Thomas Moynihan, and Sterling Wheaten, are still with the Police Department. Joseph Kelley retired for medical reasons. According to testimony, on the night of the incident, Shah, who was assigned to the area of Trump Marina, responded around 9 p.m. to a report of a disorderly male in Troso's bachelor party. Shah radioed for assistance, and the other officers arrived. Troso said on the stand that he went outside to give the officers information about what had happened and to find out where he could pick up his friend. The officers said Troso came out drunk and brandishing his Attorney General's Office badge in an attempt to get his friend off the hook. On Wednesday, Troso's attorney, William Buckman, laid out photo after photo of blood on the hood of the police car and a contusion and cut on Troso's face. "It doesn't take a sleuth to know what went on here and what shouldn't have gone on here," Buckman said in his summation. In addition to viewing the video, which shows little more than Troso being yanked away from the gathering of people, the jury has heard testimony from Troso and the officers, who said they only held Troso on the car so that he would stop resisting and never punched, kicked, or slapped him. But two different versions of a use-of-force report - a form officers must fill out if they use any force against civilians - raised questions at the trial. The original form said Troso suffered no injuries, but a second version whited out the "no" in the injuries section and changed it to "yes," according to court documents. An ambulance was called to the scene, but Troso declined care. He saw a doctor two days after the incident, saying he'd been struck in a fight, according to testimony. Buckman suggested that the original form, which said Troso suffered no injuries, was an attempted cover-up on the part of the officers. Defense attorney Tracy Riley said it was more likely that Troso, who had law enforcement connections, got his hands on the paper to change it himself and perpetuate his story in order to escape criminal charges. "Mr. Troso is here for you to award him money," Riley said, " ... to continue the cover-up of his behavior, his failure to leave the scene when he was told." Troso went on with his wedding two weeks following the incident and his honeymoon, which he said was ruined by the fear of termination. He has since become a DUI lawyer in Pennsylvania, according to his lawyer. A municipal prosecutor later dismissed the obstruction-of-justice charge and, according to testimony, apologized to Troso. "Even though maybe the physical injuries died down within a few weeks, the pain, the suffering, the emotional trauma has gone on for years," Buckman said as his client sat in the courtroom. Jury deliberations are expected to continue Thursday., Inquirer

Published Dec. 19, 2013, 3:01 a.m. ET