He was also reportedly near an abandoned building at the time and cursed at police.
CAMDEN -- A Berlin man who claims to have been waiting for the bus when he was assaulted by Camden County Police Department (CCPD) officers in 2014 is suing the department among others.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Richard A. Hicks Jr. states he was standing on a sidewalk and waiting for a bus on June 13, 2014 when he was stopped "without justification and with excessive and unreasonable physical force."
Hicks contends he was then restrained, subdued, "smashed" against the ground and struck about the face and head by an officer. He was then transported to police headquarters, where he was charged with "improper behavior." The lawsuit does not say where in the city the incident took place.
Hicks suffered unspecified injuries as a result of the encounter, which the lawsuit claims was investigated the department's internal affairs unit and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
"The county is fully confident this frivolous lawsuit will be dismissed and that these baseless claims are a waste of the taxpayers time and money," county spokesman Dan Keashen said in response to the suit.
According to a 2015 Philadelphia Inquirer story, a police officer's report indicated Hicks was waiting by an abandoned building and cursed at police when they told him he couldn't be standing there.
"They're harassing people that aren't doing anything," Hicks told the newspaper.
The lawsuit names CCPD officer Carl Tucker as one of the defendants. It also charges a handful of others for failing to supervise or otherwise oversee the conduct of the officers.
Not only does Hicks' lawsuit seek financial reimbursement, but it calls on Camden County to provide "regular and consistent training sessions" for its officers as to prevent what Hicks claims happened to him.
"The language about training is boilerplate and does not have an original word in it. In a transparent act of desperation the document's assertions are a clear move to bolster a fictional claim," Keashen said.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.