BOSTON -- More than 30 state and local police officers are named in a civil rights lawsuit involving the death of a Worcester man who died in police custody, NewsCenter 5 has learned.

A federal civil rights lawsuit is anticipated to be filed Tuesday at the Moakley Courthouse in the death of Kenneth Howe, who was a passenger of a car at a sobriety checkpoint. Pictures taken at the scene show Howe on the ground, surrounded by dozens of state troopers and police officers in the Nov. 26 incident.

Attorney Leonard Kesten, who represents the North Andover police, the chief and the town, had no comment about the impending lawsuit.

"Happy to talk to you tomorrow," Kesten said Monday night.

"I can't comment right now. Thank you, though," North Andover police Sgt. Michael Gray said Monday night.

No one at state Trooper Jodi Gerardi's house wanted to talk about the lawsuit's allegations that she and more than two dozen other troopers, North Andover police officers and Essex County sheriff's deputies violated Howe's civil rights.

The lawsuit to be filed Tuesday comes days after the medical examiner ruled Howe's death a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and body.

Howe, 45, died in police custody after an alleged struggle at a sobriety checkpoint in North Andover. Photos of his injuries appear to show a shoe print on his torso.