Kafka on Long IslandFederal judge denies judgment for nightmare arrest
A Long Island resident, who took a photograph alongside a public road of a mock-up military helicopter on display at Gabreski Airport in Suffolk County, was arrested in July 2009 on suspicions of terrorism; her subsequent mistreatment and the mishandling of litigation by the town of Southampton led to the filing of a $70 million default judgment which was recently denied by a federal judge
In July 2009 Long Island resident Nancy Genovese took a photograph alongside a public road of a mock-up military helicopter on display at Gabreski Airport in Suffolk County, and was shortly thereafter questioned and detained by police lieutenant, Robert Iberger, based on suspicions of terrorism. The subsequent mistreatment of Genovese and the mishandling of litigation by the town of Southampton led to the filing of a $70 million default judgment which was recently denied by a federal judge.
After confiscating the memory card from Genovese’s camera, and searching her vehicle without consent, Iberger found an unloaded, but legally licensed rifle Genovese had used earlier that day at the range, practicing her hobby of target shooting. Genovese objected to the weapon’s seizure to which Iberger allegedly responded: “You’re a real right winger, aren’t you?”
Shortly after Iberger reported that he was dealing with a potential terrorist, officials from the airport and federal law enforcement agencies came to the scene.
Genovese was interrogated along with her two sons, aged 18 and 20, who had came to the scene after being called, from 6 p.m. until midnight on the side of the road. She was denied food and water, the opportunity to use a restroom, all without having received any warnings as to her rights.
According to a report based on court documents, members of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office noticed Genovese limping from what she told them was a lower leg injury sustained a few days earlier. The officers then ordered her to expose her bleeding wound, and threatened her by saying “they were going to arrest her for an unreported knife wound.”
Once the authorities determined that Genovese posed no threat, the majority of them left, except for Iberger and Deputy Robert Carlock of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, who then arrested Genovese and charged her with terrorism. Before being handcuffed, Genovese tried to give her purse, which contained approximately $13,000 in cash that she was going to pay her son’s college and her daughter’s Catholic school tuitions with that day, to her sons.
The police refused to allow her sons to take the bag and ordered her to leave it in the front seat of the unlocked vehicle. When Genovese’s sons objected, Deputy Carlock threatened to arrest them if they touched it and then told them to leave the scene. The next day, when the sons were told by the County Sheriff’s office to pick
