New Jersey

Justice Department finds pattern of misconduct by Trenton Police

Published

12 months ago

November 21, 2024

Justice Department finds pattern of misconduct by Trenton Police

From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

The Justice Department said Trenton’s police department have made arrests without legal basis, officers have escalated situations with aggression and used pepper spray unnecessarily.

The results of the yearlong investigation were contained in a 45-page report released Thursday morning during a virtual press conference with U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The people of Trenton deserve nothing less than fair and constitutional policing,” Sellinger said. “When police stop someone in Trenton, our investigation found that all too often they violated the constitutional rights of those they stopped, sometimes with tragic consequences.”

Maati Sekmet Ra, co-founder of the Trenton Anti-Violence Coalition, said she is not surprised about the Justice Department’s findings.

“You cannot talk about violence that happens and occurs in a place like Trenton without talking about police violence,” she said. “Police have historically brutalized, harassed and now it’s proven that they’re violating the civil rights of folks who live in Trenton.”

Officers violate the 4th Amendment in 2 areas

The two main findings of the report are that Trenton officers use excessive force and conduct warrantless traffic stops, searches and arrests. Both violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

According to the report, officers reported using force in 815 incidents between March 2020 and December 2023. The majority of them involved physical force; pepper spray was used by officers 120 times. A firearm was used once.

In one incident mentioned during the press conference, a 64-year-old man died from respiratory failure after he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray. Officers went to the man’s house to arrest his son who was involved in an earlier domestic incident.

The man, who was not involved in the incident, met with officers outside his front door informing them they would not be allowed in his house without a warrant. As they waited for a supervisor to come to the scene, one of the officers escalated the conversation, taunting the father and son, according to the federal report.

The officer said the son was “talking like he was ‘retarded’ and asking if the father was ‘crazy,’” according to the report. The language the officer used according to the report is considered outdated and a slur toward people with mental disabilities.

As the father was about to re-enter his house, an officer threw him across the porch, against the railing and slammed him face down on the porch steps. As officers were arresting the father, another officer sprayed him in the face.

“The officer who escalated the encounter inaccurately reported that the father physically presented a ‘threat/attack’ to the officer,” the report stated. “He also claimed that he grabbed the father because he feared that a dog inside would come out—a factor that no other officer mentioned and that video footage discredited.”

The father died 18 days after the incident.

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New Jersey

Where the polling stands in Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and California

Published

14 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Press Room

Where the polling stands in Virginia, New Jersey, NYC and California

Polling is giving observers a clearer picture of what to expect on Election Day as voters cast their ballots.

Key elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California could hold big implications for what to expect in next year’s midterms.

Here’s what the polling tells us about Tuesday’s major races:

Virginia

Throughout Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has maintained a solid lead over Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). The latest Emerson College/The Hill survey, released Saturday, showed Spanberger leading Earle-Sears 55 percent to 44 percent. Spanberger improved her standing by 3 points in the poll, while Earle-Sears improved her standing by 2 points.

The polling average from The Hill’s partners at Decision Desk HQ has Spanberger up nearly 10 points over Earle-Sears.

However, the most closely watched race in the state this cycle is the attorney general contest. The race was always seen as one of the closer statewide races in Virginia, given Attorney General Jason Miyares’s status as an incumbent and fundraising advantage. Democratic nominee Jay Jones, however, still held a narrow lead over Miyares.

That all changed in early October when texts sent by Jones in 2022 surfaced in which he talked about inflicting violence on former state House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R). Jones apologized for the texts, but polls show the scandal has narrowed the Democrat’s chances at ousting the Republican attorney general.

The same Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released Saturday shows Jones leading Miyares 49 percent to 47 percent, well within the poll’s 3.2 point margin of error. Meanwhile, a Roanoke College poll released last week showed Miyares with an 8-point lead over Jones.

New Jersey

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) leads her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli, but the race is close enough that some Democrats are sweating.

The Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling average shows Sherrill leading Ciattarelli 50.1 percent to 45.5 percent. A Suffolk University poll released last week shows Sherrill with a 4-point lead, while an AtlasIntel poll also released last week showed Sherrill up 1 point over Ciattarelli.

The race comes a year after President Trump made notable gains in the blue-leaning state. Trump lost New Jersey to former Vice President Kamala Harris by just less than 6 points, a marked improvement from 2020 when he lost the state to former President Biden by nearly 16 points.

Ciattarelli also performed better than expected in his race against Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in 2021, losing by roughly 3 points.

New York City

Polls suggest Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is well on his way to becoming mayor of New York City. Mamdani began the mayor’s race as a relatively unknown figure but has skyrocketed in stature following his surprise win in the Democratic primary.

Strategies to stop Mamdani’s support from growing have continuously been floated throughout the campaign. The city’s incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped his bid for reelection and eventually backed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s independent bid. Republican Curtis Sliwa has also faced calls to drop his bid, with critics arguing that his presence in the race benefits Mamdani because he takes votes away from Cuomo.

Despite Cuomo’s high name ID and warnings about Mamdani’s far-left policy platform, Mamdani has only continued to consolidate support in the Democratic enclave. According to the DDHQ polling average, Mamdani leads the field with 44.6 percent, followed by Cuomo at 31.6 percent, and Sliwa at 18.6 percent.

However, Cuomo’s allies were somewhat heartened over the weekend when an AtlasIntel poll showed Cuomo appearing to close the gap with Mamdani. The poll showed Mamdani leading Cuomo 40.6 percent to 34 percent ahead of Election Day.

California

Proposition 50, the ballot measure backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that would establish new congressional district maps that temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting committee, appears to be on a glide path to passing. The measure would allow Newsom and the state’s Democrats to move forward with redistricting efforts ahead of next year’s midterms in an effort to counter Republican-led efforts in Texas.

The measure has gotten some pushback, including from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), but has proven to be widely popular in the state. An Emerson College Polling survey released last month found that 57 percent of likely voters in the state said they backed the measure while 37 percent said they did not support it. A separate CBS News/YouGov poll showed an even larger margin, with 62 percent of respondents saying they would vote yes on the measure and 38 percent saying they would vote no.

Newsom is so confident the measure will pass that last week he told supporters to stop donating to the effort.

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New Jersey

Sherrill, Ciattarelli make their final push for votes in the race for New Jersey governor

Published

1 day ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Sherrill, Ciattarelli make their final push for votes in the race for New Jersey governor

WEST NEW YORK, New Jersey (WABC) — It is down to the wire in the race to become the next governor of New Jersey.

Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill campaigned in West New York on Sunday, shoring up support with Latinos.

“We have seen a great deal of enthusiasm across the state. It’s been really exciting, including events like this,” Sherrill said.

Some of that enthusiasm emanated from a major rally Saturday night with former President Barack Obama in Newark.

“The numbers in the vote by males in early voting look very, very good. And, you know, having President Obama here last night was kind of icing on the cake,” she said.

Turnout has been overwhelming. Between in-person early voting and mail-in ballots, nearly 1.2 million New Jerseyans have already cast their vote.

“At the end of the day, it’s all decided by the end of 8:00 on Tuesday. But we really like the numbers we see with regard to the VBS vote by mail ballots and the early voting,” Jack Ciattarelli, Republican Candidate NJ Governor, said.

Ciattarelli was joined by Congressman Mike Lawler in Middletown speaking with voters on Sunday.

“People are upset over eight years of Phil Murphy’s failed policies and the very strong impression that my opponent would just be more of the same, only worse,” Ciattarelli said.

He is also criss-crossing the state in a final push for votes.

“I hope the Democrats continue to make the same mistake over the next two days. They’ve been making for the past four months, talking all about Trump and blaming everything on Trump. The people in New Jersey are smarter than that. They want solutions. And that’s exactly what we’ve been giving them every day on the trail,” he argued.

Early voting is over. Polls open at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Election Day.

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New Jersey

Keefe | POST-RAW 11.1.25 | New Jersey Devils

Published

2 days ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Keefe | POST-RAW 11.1.25 | New Jersey Devils

NewJerseyDevils.com is the official web site of the New Jersey Devils, a member team of the National Hockey League (“NHL”). NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup and NHL Conference logos are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks as well as all other proprietary materials depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective NHL teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. Copyright © 1999-2025 New Jersey Devils and the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.

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