A New Brunswick family has filed a complaint against the city's Police Department for allegedly using excessive force when searching a 17-year-old boy in a drug probe.

Shorne Francis, 17, of Quentin Avenue said he was visiting his grandmother at 54 Roosevelt Ave. Saturday evening when, upon leaving, he had a run-in with several plainclothes city cops who were investigating drug activity at the apartment building.

Francis and several of his relatives said the building is drug-infested, and they said that dealers often leave bags of marijuana in the hallways for their clients to pick up.

[continues 627 words]