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03-19-2005, 11:23 PM
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A homeless man who sued and received $230,000 US after being ejected from a library in northern New Jersey is suing NJ Transit for kicking him and other homeless people out of train stations.
Richard Kreimer, 55, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday seeking at least $5 million in damages against the transit agency, the city of Summit, nine police officers and several other defendants, claiming he and other homeless people have been unlawfully thrown out of train stations since August. He also wants a federal judge to decide whether the stations are public or private property, and whether people who are not ticketed passengers have the right to be in them.
"As soon as you walk into a train station and you look like a bum, the cops come right over to you," said Kreimer, who is acting as his own lawyer. A NJ Transit spokeswoman and Summit's city attorney both said they had not seen the lawsuit Monday and declined to comment on it.
Kreimer garnered national attention in 1991 after suing Morristown, the Morris Township public library and the police department over his treatment there. The library threw him out at least five times, claiming his body odour and the way he looked at library patrons offended them. Kreimer received $230,000 from the harassment suit. A federal judge ruled the library's rules on hygiene were unconstitutional. That ruling was later overturned, but not before Kreimer had been paid.
About half the money went to pay lawyers in the case; the rest is gone, spent on living expenses in Lakewood, Colo., where Kreimer rented a town house from 1993 until 2000, and in Woodbury, where he lived from 2000 until 2003.
He suffers from ailments including diabetes, heart and kidney problems, and nerve damage, and says unpaid medical bills caused him to lose the apartment two years ago, making him homeless again.
Richard Kreimer, 55, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday seeking at least $5 million in damages against the transit agency, the city of Summit, nine police officers and several other defendants, claiming he and other homeless people have been unlawfully thrown out of train stations since August. He also wants a federal judge to decide whether the stations are public or private property, and whether people who are not ticketed passengers have the right to be in them.
"As soon as you walk into a train station and you look like a bum, the cops come right over to you," said Kreimer, who is acting as his own lawyer. A NJ Transit spokeswoman and Summit's city attorney both said they had not seen the lawsuit Monday and declined to comment on it.
Kreimer garnered national attention in 1991 after suing Morristown, the Morris Township public library and the police department over his treatment there. The library threw him out at least five times, claiming his body odour and the way he looked at library patrons offended them. Kreimer received $230,000 from the harassment suit. A federal judge ruled the library's rules on hygiene were unconstitutional. That ruling was later overturned, but not before Kreimer had been paid.
About half the money went to pay lawyers in the case; the rest is gone, spent on living expenses in Lakewood, Colo., where Kreimer rented a town house from 1993 until 2000, and in Woodbury, where he lived from 2000 until 2003.
He suffers from ailments including diabetes, heart and kidney problems, and nerve damage, and says unpaid medical bills caused him to lose the apartment two years ago, making him homeless again.