On December 31, 2016, I wrote “Aberdeen confidentially paid out $15,000 to settle police invasion of privacy lawsuit” about the Township’s $15,000 settlement to a local woman named Yolanda Mitter who claimed that police banged on her door and terrorized her at 2 a.m. for no reason.  Since it didn’t seem plausible that police would just show up at someone’s home at 2 a.m. for no reason, a subsequent Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request was filed to get police reports and other documents that would shed some light on what prompted police to visit Mitter’s home.

Today, Aberdeen responded to the OPRA request and, although the documents are heavily redacted, it appears that two intoxicated men did come to Mitter’s house at 2 a.m. in their own personal vehicle to menace her.  From one witness statement (presumably Mitter’s), the two men were drunk and drove from a tavern to Mitter’s home and banged on the door and yelled at her in order to “play a joke on” Mitter’s children’s’ father.  According to the witness’ statement, the driver of the vehicle beeped the horn, gunned the engine and said “I know he’s in there” and told the witness that he wasn’t leaving until she “came downstairs so he can give me what [she] wanted and what [she] needed.”

This activity alarmed the witness and caused her to dial 911.  When Aberdeen police arrived in response to the 911 call, the two men were still on the property, but without talking to the witness/resident, the investigating officers and the two men left.  Later in her statement, the witness said that one of the men, who identified himself to the witness’ son as a being a police officer, came to the witness’ home the next day to apologize.  According to the Mitter’s children’s father’s statement, he was childhood friends with one of the men who frightened Mitter and he described his friend as being a police officer.  He said that this officer told him that he visited the home at 2 a.m. “just to bust [his] b*lls” and admitted that he “was drinking.”

According to Aberdeen’s response to the OPRA request, no criminal charges against anyone arose out of this incident.

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to [email protected]