A New Jersey gay
couple who claim a group of unruly volunteer
firefighters threatened and harassed them have been awarded
$2.84 million. Peter de Vries and Timothy Carter said
the town of Secaucus failed to protect the couple's
civil rights or investigate the firefighters' alleged
harassment of the couple after Carter complained about
noise at a wild party taking place at 1 a.m. in the
firehouse's parking lot on April 25, 2004. The couple,
who lived next door to the firehouse, said they
were continuously harassed and called homophobic slurs
by the firefighters, prompting them to eventually move,
according to Newsday. After that day, Carter
and de Vries said in court papers, they lived in
constant fear.
The jury awarded
them $433,000 for economic damages and a cumulative $2.4
million in emotional damages.
The couple's
attorney, Neil Mullin, said that they would refer the case
to the state attorney general's office to reopen a
bias-crime investigation. Mullin also plans to send
the case up to the U.S. Attorneys' office for a
criminal obstruction case.
Daniel Bevere,
who represented the city in the civil case, said in his
opening statement that the town should not be held
accountable for the firefighters' actions because it
did not sanction the party. He also argued that the
town could not be held liable for the conduct of off-duty
volunteers, according to The Star-Ledger newspaper. Bevere added
that town officials suspended the investigation because
the case was supposedly being looked into by Hudson
County and the state of New Jersey. (The
Advocate)
