New Jersey

Justice Department finds pattern of misconduct by Trenton Police

Published

2 years 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

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly $24K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

Published

3 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

2-minute read

PATERSON — In a three-month span at the end of 2022, state Sen. Benjie Wimberly, then an assemblyman, spent more than $7,200 in political donations on hotel bills, airfare and other travel expenses.

Now, Wimberly has been fined about $24,000 by New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission, partly for spending campaign funds on his own personal use.

The ELEC complaint against Wimberly had been pending since December 2024, and a settlement between the state and the senator was reached at the end of May 2026. ELEC made details of the deal public on July 1.

“Senator Wimberly chose to settle the matter with ELEC because his priority is addressing the immediate and important needs of his district,” said his attorney, Angelo Genova, a prominent and well-connected lawyer in New Jersey political circles.

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“As expressly stated in the Consent Order and Final Decision, Senator Wimberly and his treasurer neither admit nor deny the violations, and they maintain their good-faith belief that the disputed expenditures were permissible under the law,” Genova added.

Wimberly’s campaign treasurer, David Cozart, works as an assistant superintendent for Paterson Public Schools, with a $213,000 salary. Wimberly also works for the city school district as director of recreation, with a $194,000 salary.

The commission determined that 19 of Wimberly’s expenditures at the end of 2022, when he was still an Assembly member, were for impermissible uses. The order said $10,861 of the fine stemmed from Wimberly’s improper use of political funds. The rest of the penalty was for late filing of a finance report that covered October through December of 2022.

Among the expenditures highlighted by ELEC were:

$645 to the Hilton Garden Inn Lodge Colonial on Oct. 11, 2022.
$751 to the Embassy Suites Hampton on Oct. 25, 2022.
$497 to the Landing at Hampton on Nov. 8, 2022.
$322 to the Hilton Garden Inn on Dec. 6, 2022.
$378 to the Omni Hotels on Dec. 14, 2022.

The ELEC complaint did not provide specific locations of those businesses.

Partial payment of $4,000 in April

The order said Wimberly and Cozart made a partial payment of $4,000 in April 2026. The election commission also reduced the penalty, lowering it to $15,335.

Going forward, Cozart and Wimberly would make four payments of $3,833.99 through April 2027, the order said.

Wimberly supporters noted that the original complaint filed against him came at the end of 2024, when he was still an Assembly member making a bid for the vacant New Jersey 35th District Senate seat left vacant when Nellie Pou went to Congress.

Wimberly sought the Senate seat even though several Passaic County Democratic party leaders were backing then-Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter for the Senate. After the initial tally ended in a tie, Wimberly won the internal party election by one vote over Sumter.

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New Jersey

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Published

15 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Last week wasn’t a great one when it comes to weather at the Jersey Shore.

This one will be much better, at least if you like heat.

A heat wave will hit New Jersey this week with hot weather moving into the area on Tuesday. The warm temperatures will stick around for most of the week before we get a little relief by the end of the weekend.

The National Weather Service forecasts the heat wave to start July 14 with a sunny day with highs around 92 degrees. Wednesday is even hotter with temperatures expected to flirt with 100 degrees. Thursday stays hot with a high of 92 degrees forecasted, with Friday and Saturday also expected to see highs in the low 80s.

According to the NOAA, Wednesday the Jersey Shore area will be under an extreme heat watch.

Tuesday through Friday are expected to be sunny, with some clouds. Saturday is when showers roll in.

Sunday the heatwave is expected to break. Showers are also expected to stick around with a high of 84 degrees expected.

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New Jersey

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

2-minute read

The Record, NorthJersey.com, the Daily Record and the New Jersey Herald want to keep you up to date on all the newest shops, restaurants and service providers moving into your towns. Below is a roundup of businesses that recently opened or are coming soon.

Are you opening a business in North Jersey? Get the word out to your neighbors as soon as possible. Send us your information and photos and we will try to add them to our next new-business roundup.

We’re also interested in reporting business closings. Have a tip? Contact Business Reporter Daniel Munoz at munozd@northjersey.com, or 201-270-9870, and Stephanie Noda at noda@northjersey.com, or 973-558-0950.

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