Mount Sinai father files $100M lawsuit against Suffolk police in death of Casey Mendelsohn last year

Suffolk police violated the civil rights of a Mount Sinai resident when they failed to search for him after he fled into the woods adjacent to his home in October, the man’s father claims in a lawsuit filed this week.

Casey Mendelsohn’s body was found by a deer hunter in a Town of Brookhaven sump on Oct. 22, a week after his distraught father, Barry Mendelsohn, reported him missing, the lawsuit says. Police failed to investigate his 23-year-old son’s disappearance, insinuating he was off somewhere doing drugs, the suit says.

"I believe the police failure to investigate is motivated by discriminatory bias against the deceased based on Casey’s mental illness, which police completely knew about," says the handwritten lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court.

Mendelsohn is seeking $100 million from the department.

Mendelsohn, who is representing himself in the litigation, said Suffolk authorities have not provided him with his son’s cause of death.

The complaint alleges Suffolk police violated New York civil rights laws and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Suffolk police declined to comment, citing the pending legal actions.

According to the complaint, two Suffolk police officers came to the Mendelsohn home for an "unknown reason" on Oct. 8. One officer entered the home while the other stayed outside.

When Casey Mendelsohn saw the officer enter the home, he fled out the back door, through the backyard and into the nearby woods. "Officer (A) stated, ‘Why is Casey running, we are not here for him,’" the lawsuit says.

One officer said he would drive around to see if he could locate Casey, but he and his colleague did not enter the woods to search for him.

”The officers never came by to state they could not locate Casey Mendelsohn," the lawsuit says.

After Barry Mendelsohn reported his son missing, a detective — described in the lawsuit as "condescending" — told him that he had spoken with a person named "Franky."

"He insinuated that Casey Mendelsohn was doing drugs with other folks," the lawsuit says of the detective.

Casey Mendelsohn’s body was found a week later by the hunter, the lawsuit said.