A Fresno police officer ticketed a California man for jaywalking in 2019.
But instead of taking the fine on the chin, John Christopher Spatafore launched a campaign of revenge against the officer, who included filing false police reports about him, according to a civil suit.
The officer, identified only as John Doe, is seeking $16.5 million in damages for himself and his family.
The Fresno Bee was first to report on the lawsuit, which is expected to go to trial later this year.
According to the local media, the policeman’s lawyer, Brian Whelan, described the trial as a “cybercampaign of hatred and revenge” carried out against the policeman and his family.
A complaint filed by the officer, his wife and daughter in 2021, states the officer saw Spatafore walking near Fresno City Hall and along the train tracks on October 25, 2019.
The officer issued Spatafore a citation for violating a section of the California Vehicle Code. Under the code, jaywalking is punishable by a fine of up to $196, plus administrative fees and court assessments.
Spatafore was “visibly upset” while in custody, according to the lawsuit, and asked “strange personal and vaguely threatening questions” about the officer’s address and whether he had children.
Four days later, according to the lawsuit, the agent began receiving password reset codes, which suggested that attempts to hack his personal email account were underway.
The lawsuit says this was followed by a tirade of texts, calls and emails from car dealers “responding” to requests for information about buying cars that the agent never had. do.
It states that on November 6, 2019, the agent received more than 100 text messages on his personal phone regarding investigations he never initiated.
According to the lawsuit, Spatafore then filed two false police reports against the officer.
In the first, he accused him of being involved in a hit-and-run. An investigation by Fresno police found that was not true, according to the Fresno Bee.
In the second, Spatafore alleged that the officer’s wife was a victim of domestic violence, according to the lawsuit. Police also found that information to be false, the Fresno Bee reported.
According to the lawsuit, the officer and his wife also received a message saying their computer camera had been hacked and that compromising videos of them would be released unless they met certain requirements.
Spatafore also attempted to turn off officers’ water and trash services on Thanksgiving, the Fresno Bee reported.
Spatafore was arrested on November 21, 2019, almost a month after the harassment campaign began.
He was arrested less than a mile from the officer’s home with a loaded .38-caliber revolver that was not registered and for which he did not have a permit to carry, according to the Fresno Bee.
The local media outlet said the hospital he worked at fired him the same day after discovering he had used his work laptop to carry out the revenge campaign.
The officer is now seeking $5.5 million each for himself, his wife and daughter, accusing Spatafore and the hospital of invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.
Spatafore admitted to harassing the officer online during a police interview, adding that he used Facebook, not hospital records, to find information about him, according to the Fresno Bee.
He was charged with two counts of unauthorized use of personally identifying information and one count of possessing a concealed firearm, as well as misdemeanor crimes, but the criminal case was suspended after her attorney placed her in a mental health diversion program.
Spatafore’s attorney, the officer’s lawyer and the hospital did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
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