Ocean, NJ|Featured Classified|News Tip|
1990 Anti-LGBTQ Bias Assault at Center of New Jersey Police Records Lawsuit
A 1990 anti-LGBTQ bias-related assault is now part of a New Jersey Superior Court fight over police body-camera evidence and firearms-related records more than three decades later.
The lawsuit concerns former Asbury Park Police Capt. David DeSane and cites his 1990 bias-related simple-assault conviction involving Bruce A. Lehman. Lehman would later become a prominent openly gay federal official in the Clinton administration, serving as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and becoming the first openly gay man confirmed by the U.S. Senate. (Clinton Presidential Library)
The complaint argues that DeSane’s documented conviction, together with a subsequent history containing serious allegations of violence and weapons-related conduct, strengthens the public interest in disclosure under New Jersey’s common-law right of access. The filing references later alleged incidents involving knives, a stabbing, and a 2019 incident in which DeSane was accused of threatening a retired police lieutenant with a knife. Those later incidents are allegations and are distinct from the documented 1990 conviction.
The case now asks a larger question: when a former high-ranking police official has a documented bias-related assault conviction and later allegations involving violence and weapons, what should the public be allowed to know about his police encounters and firearms-related records?
The lawsuit remains pending, and the later allegations have not been adjudicated.
Full complaint and proposed Order to Show Cause:
