The Fifth Amendment prevents compelling a police officer facing criminal charges to turn over to prosecutors a flashlight he allegedly used to beat people during an off-duty street fight, a state appeals court held on Wednesday.

The Appellate Division, in State v. Kelsey, A-4850-10, upheld a Mercer County judge who found that ordering Patrolman Mylon Kelsey to turn over the flashlight would be “comparable to having [d]efendant make the prosecution’s case against himself.”