For nearly a month, a Fresno, California, police officer and his family were the targets of a relentless campaign of harassment and revenge by a man furious over being given a ticket for jaywalking, according to a civil lawsuit.
The officer, who is identified in the lawsuit as John Doe, was on duty Oct. 25, 2019, about 2 p.m. when he spotted a man, later identified as John Christopher Spatafore, illegally crossing the street in downtown Fresno near Fresno City Hall.
The 55-year-old Spatafore worked in information technology for Community Regional Medical Center and was about a block away from his workplace. A police report described Spatafore as “extremely confrontational” during questioning, but he took the ticket and both men went on their way, the Fresno Bee reports.
The encounter should have been over at that point, but what followed was a series of bizarre events that the officer’s lawyer, Brian Whelan, called a “cyber campaign of hate and revenge” against the officer, his wife and daughter.
The officer is suing Spatafore and the hospital for, among other things, invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision of an employee.
The officer is seeking no less than $5.5 million each for himself, his wife and daughter. Punitive damages are to be determined by a jury at trial.
Nearly a month after he began his online harassment, Spatafore was arrested by Fresno police on Nov. 21, 2019. He was driving within a mile of the officer’s home when police pulled him over. Inside his car was a loaded .38 caliber revolver that was not registered. Spatafore also didn’t have a license to carry the handgun and denied being the owner.
During an interview with police, Spatafore admitted to the online harassment.
Spatafore was charged with two counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying Information, one count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property and one misdemeanor count of making a false report.
