A federal jury last week sided with the city and police in a $10 million lawsuit over the 2015 death of a Vineland man who was tackled by officers and bitten by a police dog.
Phillip White died in police custody in March 2015 after officers responded to a call of a man acting erratically. Authorities said White had PCP in his system at the time of the incident. Video of an officer sitting on Whites back as he ordered a police K9 to bite him went viral, spurring outrage.
In 2016, his family filed a federal lawsuit against Vineland and the police department, alleging excessive force and violations of Whites civil rights. Two officers Louis Platania and Rich Janasiak were also initially named in the suit, though Janasiak was later dismissed as a defendant.
On Oct. 19, a jury sitting in District Court in Camden sided with the city, federal court records show.
We believe very strongly in our client and our clients cause, but the jury didnt see it that way, said Michael Galpern, an attorney for Whites mother, Pamela.
Galpern said his team was weighing whether to appeal the verdict. An attorney for Vineland and its police department declined to comment on the case.
The lawsuit also contended Vineland police had a history of ignoring complaints of excessive force, claiming that internal investigations into the officers conduct consisted of interviews only of the officers, but not of civilian witnesses.
Video of Whites arrest, which went viral at a time when protests over police killings of Black men were getting attention around the country, shows several bystanders recording the incident and shouting at police that White was not resisting.
Get that dog off of him, a bystander shouted in one of the videos. Hes knocked out. Hes not even moving.
White died on his way to the hospital. Authorities at the time attributed his death to respiratory distress.
The hacker collective Anonymous later released the names of officers involved in the arrest shortly before authorities made them public. The officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a grand jury in June 2016.
Galpern said because of limitations on what evidence they could introduce, jurors never got to consider the long line of excessive force complaints against Vineland police officers as well as the departments alleged failure to investigate them properly.
Data provided by the city to the state Attorney Generals Office shows that only one city police officer faced any major discipline (defined as misconduct resulting in a suspension of five days or more) at the department in 2020 and 2021.
Vineland police face another lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court from a local man, Jose L. Paz Jr., who alleges he was also wrongly beaten by officers and bitten by a police dog in 2018. That case is still pending in court, records show.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com.