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A former New York police department sergeant has filed a $10 billion federal civil rights lawsuit against a list of law enforcement and court officials in New Jersey (MARCHISOTTO v. MALIK et al (3:20-cv-20426), New Jersey District Court).

The case is not about the money, he said, but justice. In the court filing, he says, “I would gladly donate every penny to a charity. But it’s time to send a message to the New Jersey Courts run by clown judges, who believe they are above the law.”

John Marchisotto says his civil rights were violated when officers came into his home to take away his guns. The invasion and everything that happened after that are retaliation for Mr. Marchisotto filing another federal lawsuit against many of the people named in this case.

The complaint filed in the US District Court in New Jersey says in part, “Middlesex County Sheriff’s Police Officers … New Jersey State Police along with dozens of heavily armed police personnel, entered my home displaying their high-powered military-style long guns drawn, terrorizing my family. They came to my home to execute a false TERPO petition to seize my licensed firearms. However, their basis of the TERPO search warrant was a complete sham to punish me for the Federal Lawsuit I filed against the State of New Jersey, Middlesex County, the judicial and non-judicial defendants. They knew I was a retired NYPD police sergeant and out of retaliation, they came after my guns.”

TERPO is an Extreme Risk Protective Order act. It was created in New Jersey in 2018 and allows anyone to seek the protective order against anyone else who “poses a danger of causing bodily inquiry to self or others by possessing or purchasing a firearm.”

— Press release, A Former New York Police Department Sergeant has filed a $10 Billion Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Against a List of Law