WATCH: Troopers smash NJ man’s car window as girlfriend sobs

Attorney Joel Silberman doesn't dispute State Troopers had a good reason to pull over 20-year-old Dennis J. Ortiz in late April of last year.

As seen on a video of the traffic stop made by Ortiz's girlfriend, a trooper tells Ortiz he'd been going 100 mph in a 65-mph zone. Ortiz acknowledges it through a window that's opened just enough to communicate with the trooper: "Absolutely."

It's what happens next that's at the heart of a lawsuit in which Ortiz alleges Trooper Robert J. Murray racially profiled him — a seemingly calm conversation that quickly escalated just before a trooper smashed through Ortiz's window to take him into custody.

"Dennis was completely compliant with them from the start," Silberman said.

Throughout the incident, Silberman said, "There’s just this overarching theme that they wanted to get in this vehicle or do further investigation that I don’t think if you or I were pulled over for speeding — well, I don't know what you look like — I don’t know if I were pulled over, would have happened."

Ortiz has dreadlocks, a dark complexion and several tattoos.

In a version of the video published by NJ Advance Media Monday and seen above, the stop is seen in several segments that have been edited together. New Jersey 101.5 has requested a copy of the original video from Silberman.

First, Ortiz speaks to Murray through the partially opened window and provides him with documentation. He tells Murray he was trying to get home from Harrisburg, Pa. to Bayonne.

The video next skips ahead to Ortiz returning to his car, and telling his girlfriend he was just made to take a roadside DWI test. According to Silberman, he passed the test and was not charged with driving while intoxicated.

When a trooper approaches, he asks Ortiz to open the door, and Ortiz answers "No, I can't do that."

"I'm not opening my door to you," he says. "You already unlawfully entered my vehicle once. You won't do it again, officer."

The trooper tells Ortiz he wants him to step out of the car: "We're just going to have a discussion out here." And the officer tells him: "You're not under arrest."

Ortiz tells the trooper he's unlawfully asking him to step out of the car and detaining him — and repeatedly asserts they can talk while Ortiz remains in the car.

As they continue to argue, another trooper is heard saying "He's now under arrest" at least three times.

As Ortiz says repeatedly "this is crazy," a trooper smashes in his window, and he's taken into custody.

As Ortiz's girlfriend sobs, a trooper approaches her side of the vehicle to say she can be transported away from the highway, but that if she doesn't cooperate, she'll be arrested as well. According to Silberman, she was not arrested or charged.

Ortiz was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest. He later appeared in Tewksbury Municipal Court in September 2014 and pleaded guilty to traveling 79 mph in a 65 mph zone. The obstruction and resisting charges were dismissed.

Silberman said throughout the incident "the directions from the officers are incredibly unclear. But he does comply with them from the beginning. When he begins asking some questions about what’s going on, that's when it escalates."

He stressed that Ortiz had been told he wasn't under arrest when he was refusing to exist the vehicle.

The officers may have done the DWI test because of the alleged excessive speeding, Silberman said, "but they did that investigation, and everything seemed fine."

The lawsuit alleges the troopers used "unreasonable and/or excessive force" in the incident. It says he was given the DWI test without proper cause and harassed afterward. The lawsuit seeks damages, punitive damages, interest, attorney fees, costs and "all such other relief as this court may deem appropriate, equitable, and just."

The lawsuit was filed Dec. 3, and no court date has yet been set, Silberman said.