It’s the “Strippers drugged me!” defense.

The Linden, NJ, cop who drove head-on into a tractor trailer on the West Shore Expressway in Staten Island last March — killing his fellow cop and another pal — is now claiming he may have been drugged with a date-rape drug at the borough’s notorious Curves Gentleman’s Club.

The lawyer for allegedly drunken wrong-way driver and suspended cop Pedro Abad raised the Hail Mary defense during an appearance on his aggravated vehicular homicide indictment in Staten Island Supreme Court Thursday, the Staten Island Advance reported.

The blame-it-on-the-strippers gambit does not take into account Abad’s two prior DUI arrests or the tests showing he had a .24 blood alcohol level after the fatal crash — three times the legal limit.

Abad’s lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said his medical expert believes Abad may have been drugged without his knowledge with GHB, and wants to test the cop’s post-crash blood sample for the powerful central-nervous system depressant, the newspaper reported. Abad used a wheelchair during his court appearance, and his lawyer said he still faces additional surgeries.

Outside court, Gallucci suggested to a reporter that the practice of drugging patrons is a known risk at strip clubs like Scores.

Gallucci had repped another client, Jared Reifschneider, who also caused a wrong-way crash in 2012 after also getting bombed at Curves — and the lawyer said his expert may be looking into that as a case of GHB drugging as well — though Reifschneider has already pleaded guilty and gone to prison.

The charges against Abad carry up to 25 years in prison. The crash immediately killed pal Joseph Rodriguez, 28, who was in the front passenger seat.

Frank Viggiano, 28, another Linden police officer, was seated in the back seat and died a short time after the crash at Staten Island University Center.

Abad’s partner, Patrick Kudlac, 23, was seriously injured but survived.

In possibly his last recorded conversation before ending up in a coma, Kevin Higgenbotham called police for help.

In the 9-1-1 recording obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request, the Trenton resident asks the dispatcher to send some assistance to his home on the 200 block of Bellevue Avenue.

“I have someone on my driveway that’s trespassing, he won’t leave,” Higgenbotham pleads to the dispatcher at 8:34 a.m. on June 15.

Forty minutes later, Higgenbotham was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where went into cardiac arrest. The medical emergency left him in a coma that he has yet to recover from. His attorney Stanley King, of Woodbury-based King & King, alleges police repeatedly beat Higgenbotham with batons and pepper strayed him, causing the 47-year-old to be put in his incapacitated state.

King said Higgenbotham suffers from bipolar disorder and was experiencing an episode the morning he called police. The attorney said the trespasser Higgenbotham reported to police was his cousin, who lived with the family at the Bellevue Avenue home.

“I live here,” a man believing to be Higgenbotham’s cousin says in the 9-1-1 recording. “I got mail in here.”

In the phone call, Higgenbotham disagrees with his relative’s statement and asks him to get his mail to prove it. He also tells the dispatcher that it is not a family member.

“I don’t know who he is,” Higgenbotham tells the dispatcher. “We’ll find out when (the police) get here. You send them right away.”

In the phone call that last 2 minutes, 40 seconds, Higgenbotham at times is unintelligible. He does provide the dispatcher his first and last name, and spells it.

Approximately 6 minutes later, police arrive on the scene.

In their account of the events that transpired, police claim Higgenbotham was under the influence of drugs and that he assaulted his family member when they arrived.

The dispatch report, also obtained by The Trentonian, shows 25 minutes pass before Higgenbotham is placed under custody after the first of four police cars arrive on the scene.

King, who intends to sue Trenton for the officers’ actions, believes that amount of time that passed before any arrest was because police were talking to Higgenbotham and his mother.

“His mother begged and pleaded with police that he just wasn’t on his medication, he need to get his meds adjusted,” King said Wednesday, noting she asked police to take him to the crisis center. “He’s wasn’t going to do anything to anyone.”

Police said when officers encountered Higgenbotham outside the home to arrest him for the alleged assault that he ran into the residence.

King contends the officers never had a right to enter the home, especially since Higgenbotham placed the distress call for help.

“It’s just a clear case of the officers not responding and knowing how to deal with someone exhibiting some type of mental distress,” King said. “He didn’t commit a crime. There were no excruciating circumstances warranting them to go into his home.”

The dispatch notes outline someone was “armed (with) something at location” and when Higgenbotham went upstairs that it was “unknown if he has any weapons.”

“There was no weapon at all,” King said, adding it was the first time hearing the allegation.

Police used pepper spay on Higgenbotham in the home, which they said seemed to have no effect.

Higgenbotham was eventually placed in a paddy wagon with his hands cuffed behind his back. Police said when Higgenbotham was in the vehicle, he became combative and started kicking the windows.

In the dispatch report, the hospital was “notified to get restraints ready.”

King calls the Trenton police officers’ actions “egregious” and something that “never should have happened.”

“We think it’s really a shame that he is the person who actually initiated the call asking for officers to come, tied together with the fact that it wasn’t probably a real emergency, but him ending up in a coma is just insane,” the attorney said.

Higgenbotham, who was charged with simple assault, criminal mischief, improper behavior and resisting arrest, remains in a hospital bed at Statesman Health & Rehabilitation in Levittown, Pa.

“He’s still in a very serious condition,” King said. “It doesn’t really look good. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed at this point.”

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe immediately following the arrest. A prosecutor’s office spokesman said Thursday that the investigation is ongoing.

In the last snippets of the 9-1-1 call, the dispatcher tells Higgenbotham that an officer was being dispatched.

“Thank you very much,” he responds. “Have a good day.”

By David Foster for The Trentonian

Domenico Lillo, 45, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of civil rights and one count of falsifying records to impede a civil rights investigation

A Bayonne police officer charged with using excessive force during a 2013 arrest and illegally obtaining a $20,000 loan intended for low- to moderate-income residents, pleaded guilty to both in Newark federal court this morning.

Domenico Lillo, 45, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of civil rights and one count of falsifying records to impede a civil rights investigation, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.

Lillo also pleaded guilty to assisting in the filing of a false report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help a relative fraudulently obtain a federally funded home rehabilitation loan, Fishman added.

Lillo’s wife, Rose, is also charged in the loan scheme, and she is in the process of negotiating a plea deal, federal court documents show.

Domenico Lillo was arrested in January on charges of police brutality stemming from an incident in which he struck then 25-year-old Brandon Walsh with a flashlight when executing an arrest warrant on Avenue C.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Walsh was handcuffed at the time, was not resisting arrest and was injured in the incident.

Lillo also admitted that he falsified a Bayonne Police Department Use of Force Report related to the arrest with the intent to impede an investigation into the case.

Lillo, who goes by the name Dominic, was arrested in January for the incident and was immediately suspended without pay. Lillo resigned from the Bayonne Police Department on Sept. 16., Chief Drew Niekrasz said in a statement.

“It is my my hope that today’s guilty plea serves to reinforce the Bayonne Police Department’s policy that the application of inappropriate force is never acceptable, and will result in disciplinary action, up to and including criminal prosecution,” Niekrasz said.

The excessive force charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while the falsifying records charge carries a prison term of up to 20 years.

In November, Walsh’s family filed a lawsuit against the officer that alleged the officers “storm(ed) into the house,” sprayed chemicals on the man and then threw him to the ground before spraying his mother, Kathy Walsh, in the face when she “attempted to find out what was going on,” according to the lawsuit.

“Today’s guilty plea sends an unmistakably clear message that our federal and state authorities have zero tolerance for police brutality,” Joel Silberman, Walsh’s attorney, said in a statement. “The Walsh family commends the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office for their efforts in bringing this matter to justice.”

In May 2012, Lillo, his wife Rose, a city clerk, and a unnamed family member jointly took out a mortgage to buy a home on West 49th Street, across the street from where the couple was living at the time.

Conditions of the mortgage stated the three would live in the new home for at least a year, but a criminal complaint said Rose “caused” the relative to submit a loan application to the city that listed the relative as the sole owner of the new home, the complaint stated.

The relative was eligible to receive a $20,000 loan, because he or she only received $24,000 a year through social security and a pension. Had the Lillos’ income been included, the relative would not be eligible because the combined income would total over the $58,700 income limit for the loan, according to the indictment.

Domenico Lillo is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 6.

When reached by phone, Bayonne Business Administrator Joe DeMarco declined to comment on Lillo’s plea.

Lillo was one of several Bayonne police officers named in a police brutality lawsuit that resulted in a $100,000 settlement for the two men who brought the lawsuit, The Jersey Journal reported in 2011.

For NJ.com by Caitlin Mota

After allegedly jaywalking to catch his bus, a teenage boy was viciously clubbed in the face while pinned down by a Stockton, Calif., Police Department officer. The officer then shouted commands at the boy, who by this time was stunned by the blow and holding his face. Soon after, eight more officers arrived and slammed him to the ground while others made sure there was no resistance from the onlooking crowd.

The watching crowd, which included one woman who refused to stay silent and was letting the cops know that what they were doing was wrong, knew that any one of them could have been that young man being assaulted by law enforcement. This is the real reason for the amount of brutality exercised. (Watch video of incident.)

This brutality was yet another example of the terror tactics used against the poor and working class of the city of Stockton. In front of everyone, Stockton PD demonstrated that they were the ones in control and what they say goes regardless of the rights or safety of those they are entrusted with protecting and serving.

But this same show of force also betrays their weakness. As they stand surrounding the 16-year-old whose very existence was marked as a threat on that day, they themselves are in fact surrounded by everyday people on their way to school, work or the store. These people, and their potential to put an end to the unjust system of police tyranny, were the real threat and the real reason why one or two officers were not enough for this adolescent young boy.

These kinds of overreactions and disproportionate displays of force, much like the military reactions seen this past year in Ferguson and Baltimore, demonstrate both the fragility of the capitalist system as well as the revolutionary potential of the youth.

Veronica Rodriguez carries an upside-down flag while marching with protesters to protest excessive force by Stockton police used on teen. Photo: Clifford Oto/The Record

On Sept. 17, a group of protesters went from the Regional Transit station where the incident took place to the county courthouse to demand justice. The diverse crowd included the mother of James Earl Rivera Jr. who himself was shot down at the tender age of 15 by Stockton PD. Dionne Smith-Downs has been central to the struggle for police accountability in Stockton and marched alongside other victims of past brutality. Despite attempts at intimidation by SPD, the people’s voice could not be silenced.

With the popularity of the Black Lives Matter movement growing with each instance of police brutality, more and more people see that not only are the police working exclusively to protect property instead of people, they are also working to preserve a system of economic exploitation that has far-reaching effects. It is their brutality that has enabled unions to be rolled back, corporations to consolidate their power, and war to be exported to every corner of the globe.

It is also their brutality that has allowed poor and working-class communities to become gentrified, to have their wages remain stagnant, and to see their public education fall by the wayside, all in favor of so-called redevelopment and beautification. As more people express their dissatisfaction with these business-oriented policies, it is the police who step in and try to make sure that no organized opposition is allowed to take root.

However, history has shown that there is no injustice that goes without resistance. Despite examples of daily brutality and mistreatment, the people of Stockton have refused to stay silent and have instead organized and resisted police terrorism.

Article originally published on liberationnews.org

By Brett Sanders

LINDEN, N.J. – Former Marine, Adam Kokesh got his start as an activist shortly after returning from Iraq, where he joined Iraq Veterans Against War. He spoke in rallies, protests, self-produced videos, and even made national headlines for interrupting John McCains’s acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Needless to say, Kokesh is well versed on the societal damages of war and has plenty of practice communicating such a touchy subject. So, when a fellow veteran angrily confronts him in the basement of a New Jersey bar for as much as criticizing the military, he handles the situation like very few could.

As part of The American Campfire Freedom Tour, Kokesh was wrapping a stop in Linden, New Jersey when “a posse of angry young men came down the stairs, blocking [his] way out.” According to the video, one of the servers at the bar upstairs overheard a line in his speech, which prompted him to send his “big Iraq veteran” buddy downstairs to challenge Kokesh to a fight.

The video begins by showing a group of men surrounding Kokesh, the largest of which wants to fight.

“If you have something bad to say about the year and a half that I spent there (Iraq), by all means we can discuss it outside.”

Kokesh, surprised that a large, angry, former cop is threatening violence over some words in a speech, simply asks the guy if that would make him feel good–to beat someone up over some intellectual conversation, mostly based moral principles.

The angry veteran, clearly still fired up about words that he didn’t actually hear, gives Kokesh an ultimatum.

“If you have something bad to say, as you did earlier, then you can say it now as a fucking man, and go ahead.”

Kokesh responds very calmly by explaining that the military is funded by taxation, which by definition is theft and that as a people we could achieve greater things with voluntary actions opposed to violence. You could almost hear the wind deflating out of the bully’s sail as he realizes that Kokesh is well armed with truth and communication skills.

“Well how else do you expect governments to pay for everything that goes on?” the now calmer bully asked.

“I don’t.” Kokesh reponded.

The conversation then transitioned to both men’s service. Obviously, the angry vet wanted to prove how tough he was by proving that his military service was somehow more valuable then that of Kokesh’s. However, Kokesh quickly brought the conversation back to it’s original intent. “This isn’t really a contest of who has the bigger dick, dude. This is a conversation that you brought up about the of the military.”

The angry vet still threatens that if anyone disrespects the military, he was going to have a problem. However, Kokesh clarifies that he didn’t believe it was disrespect, rather an important intellectual criticism to realize that most recruits are lied to in order to join the military. This was the turning point in the conversation, as Kokesh must have hit chord with the man, as he agreed. He “agreed 100%” with that. Kokesh then took over the conversation and out powered the man with pure intellectual honesty.

“We’re taken advantage of. It’s always poor men dying in rich men’s wars. Why is that? Because they take advantage of us.”

Kokesh literally flipped the script on this man, to remove the emotional aspects and the ego that go along with the collective mentality of the military and found common ground to where they could both agree, they were lied to.

After a few minutes of civil conversation, and a quick education on what liberty actually is, and is not, the man conceded, “then I have no problem with you.”

A situation that started out as a confrontational mess, ended with a handshake and good feelings all around. When Kokesh asked if he wanted a sticker, the man initially refused. However, the video states that Kokesh later sought out the man and shook his hand again, and offered his book and sticker.

“I can’t fault you for being lied to, but I can say that it’s cowardly to avoid the truth now that it’s in front of you.”

He accepted.

This story appeared originally on the liberty-oriented news publication BrettSanders.me

Injuries on the body of Michael Cortez Jr., 18, who says he is a victim of police brutality

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A man arrested last week is now accusing Jersey City Police of choking, beating, and slamming his head against a wall because of a personal vendetta by police, who entered his home without permission.

Michael Cortez Jr., 18, says he was helping his sick grandmother when police arrived alongside emergency medical technicians his family had called. Police apparently entered the home despite not being requested, and an altercation began.

Members of the Cortez family say the police have a personal vendetta against Michael, stemming from legal troubles from when Cortez was a minor. Cortez’s father, Michael Cortez Sr., said local police have harassed his son for years. Jersey City cops told his son they “couldn’t wait” until he turned 18 so they could arrest him, according to the senior Cortez, who said he plans to hire an attorney to file a lawsuit.

Witnesses say Cortez was arrested and placed in handcuffs within two minutes of police arriving at the home. One witness told The Jersey Journal that the police brought Cortez upstairs, where one officer purposefully hit his head against a wall, then later lifted him off the ground by his neck, choking him.

Cortez has multiple bruises and cuts on his body that he says he received during the arrest. Cortez was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center after police first booked him at the jail.

Officers wrote in a police report that Cortez was being combative when they arrived. A family member, who did not wish to be identified, contradicted the official police statement. “How is he going to attack police officers when he’s in handcuffs 95 percent of the time?” the family member said.

Cortez is now facing charges of resisting arrest, aggravated assault on an officer, obstructing governmental function, terrorist threats, and disorderly conduct. He was released after posting a $10,000 bail.

Despite not being a witness to the events, Carmine Disbrow, President of the Jersey City Police Officers’ Benevolent Assocation (JCPOBA), a local police union, says the police who arrested Cortez conducted themselves with “utmost professionalism.”

“Officers showed compassion for a Jersey City family in need,” Disbrow said of the police, who entered the home without being asked.

An art exhibit created by several Westfield, New Jersey students and displayed at a recent district-wide art show is drawing criticism from police officers. The display, titled “Law Enforcement — Police Brutality,” includes images of a man stabbed in the back by a badge and several of guns aimed at unarmed figures.

Artists’ statements are included below each piece.

“I am generally opposed to all forms of government control, and with the common occurrence of slaughtering innocents on the high-rise this was my prime reason to protest,” wrote one student.

Below the image of a bloody figure stabbed by a police badge, a student wrote, “The message that I am trying to convey is how some police officers have spilled the blood of many innocent people.”

According to one source, officers around the world are sharing photos of the display on social media and encouraging each other to email complaints to Superintendent Margaret Dolan, and hundreds have responded.

Some have posted their thoughts about the exhibit in the review section of a Facebook page about WHS.

“Disgusting that this school allows projects depicting false police brutality. Should be ashamed of yourself,” wrote one user whose profile photo is a police badge.

Another Facebook user wrote, “Disgusted with your prejudicial so-called display of art that promotes violence by labeling police as brutalists. Funny that all school teachers aren’t called sex offenders because of an occasional inappropriate relationship with students. Treat law enforcement the same way!”

The exhibit is part of the district’s annual art show, which was open to the public at Westfield High School from May 12 to May 14 at 2 p.m. It was part of a sampling of hundreds of works of art created by students representing all 10 Westfield public schools and grades ranging from kindergarten through 12^thgrade.

Westfield School District has not yet commented.

The cop who fatally shot a Wyckoff family’s 5-year-old German shepherd was also involved in an alleged 2010 police chase in Newark that ended when the police car he was driving fatally struck a domestic violence suspect.

The cop, Kyle Ferreira, was not charged or indicted in the Newark case, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday. And Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said that the department knew about the incident when he was hired in February 2012.

Newark agreed to settle a civil lawsuit related to the incident for $350,000, according to federal court documents. Ferreira was among 160 Newark police officers who were laid off in late November 2010 because of budget cuts, an attorney for Newark said.

Fox said that the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office had cleared Ferreira of any criminal wrongdoing in the case and that it was “simply ruled an accident.” He said that Wyckoff authorities were “aware of it, and we investigated it.”

Katharine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said prosecutors had presented the case to a grand jury, which found “no cause for action” against Ferreira. “In essence, his actions were deemed to be justified,” Carter said.

The police car Ferreira was driving allegedly hit 32-year-old Rahjon Chambers about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2010, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. Chambers, who was unarmed, had fled in a car when police responded to a “domestic violence allegation,” according to court papers. The car later crashed. Chambers then got out of the car and was subsequently “struck and killed” by Ferreira’s police car, the suit said.

Last year, the court approved a $350,000 settlement that Newark officials agreed to pay to Chambers’ six children and a brother, whom he was supporting, according to records. While attorneys involved in the case on both sides said it had been settled, the case appears to still be open, according to available records.

On April 29, Ferreira fatally shot a dog, named Otto, on Law­lins Road in Wyckoff while investigating a reported burglary at the wrong address. The Vukobratovic family, which owns the dog, has asked the township to investigate the shooting. However, the family said on Wednesday that the 2010 incident involving Ferreira had nothing to do with Otto’s death.

“People are going crazy about this, but I don’t really care,” Igor Vukobratovic, 25, said Wednesday afternoon. “Whatever happened before is in the past.”

Wyckoff Mayor Kevin Rooney declined to comment Wednesday about whether the Township Committee knew about the Newark case when Ferreira was hired. Rooney referred all questions to Fox.

Separate lawsuits against Ferreira and Newark by Chambers’ family members had been filed in 2011 and 2012 but were later consolidated into one case, according to court records. Family and friends of Chambers began a “Justice for Rahjon” petition on change.org.

A federal magistrate judge, Cathy L. Waldor, approved a settlement last February and said in a hearing on April 30, 2014, that she was “satisfied that it adequately protects the interest of the children, based on the allegations in the complaint,” according to a transcript.

Chambers’ six children, who were between 3 and 17 years old at the time, were slated to receive a little less than $40,000 each after expenses, according to the documents. His brother, who had turned 18, was to get less than $10,000.

The information comes on the heels of a Township Committee meeting on Tuesday night that was preceded by impassioned protests by supporters of the Vuko­bra­to­vics. During the meeting at Wyckoff Town Hall, Rooney said there was an ongoing police investigation, and he’d requested a detective from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to assist in the investigation. The township also asked for assistance from the state attorney general.

It has not been disputed that Ferreira went to the wrong address. Dispatched to 621 Lawlins Road about 3:45 p.m. on April 29 to investigate a reported burglary, he misheard the dispatcher and went to 622 instead, Fox said.

When no one at 622 Lawlins answered the front door, Ferreira went into the back yard through an unlocked fence gate, Fox said. There, he saw an open window that he thought might be the burglar’s point of entry. Fox said that Ferreira drew his weapon just before a “large, growling” German shepherd came through the ground-level window and attacked him, biting and latching onto his right boot.

Ferreira fired four times, police said, twice hitting Otto. Ferreira wasn’t injured, but Fox said Ferreira’s boot bears minor damage from the attack. Otto was brought to the Oradell Animal Hospital, where he later died.

The Vukobratovics say neighbors who witnessed the shooting have told them that things unfolded differently than the police version.

Records from a road chase in which police fatally shot a 23-year-old black man suspected of stealing an SUV should not be released to the public, an attorney for the New Jersey State Police argued in court Tuesday.

A state appeals panel is weighing whether New Jersey law enforcement agencies have released enough information about the death of Kashad Ashford, who was shot by police in September near the Lyndhurst-Rutherford border.

Authorities have declined to name the officers involved in the shooting, and have not said whether they have video or other records from the scene.

State law requires authorities to release certain documents such as the arrest report within 24 hours. But according to an attorney for North Jersey Media Group, the state has been withholding records for months.

Ashford allegedly was driving a stolen Nissan Armada when state police and officers from Lyndhurst and Rutherford began pursuing him through several towns in Bergen County. Surrounded at one point, Ashford allegedly “backed the SUV at the officers, ramming a police vehicle,” and was shot afterward, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. A loaded handgun was found in the SUV, authorities said.

A sworn statement from the lead state police investigator of the shooting, Detective Cortney Lawrence, does not say Ashford tried to ram a police vehicle after he was surrounded.

Citing state law

At oral argument Tuesday, the attorney for the state police and local police agencies involved in the case said authorities were still investigating, and that state law allows records to remain secret while investigators complete their work. Investigators are also looking into whether police used unlawful force, the state has said.

“Criminal investigatory records are off to the side, they’re not subject to disclosure,” said Jeffrey S. Jacobson, the state’s attorney and director of the state Division of Law, the top-ranking litigator in the Attorney General’s Office. Disclosing more records about the shooting also could lead witnesses to change their testimony, the state has argued.

Reporters from North Jersey Media Group — which publishes The Record — requested a series of police reports and video from law enforcement vehicles under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. Authorities initially declined the requests, and North Jersey Media Group filed a lawsuit seeking the records.

State law requires that police promptly release information “as to the identity of the investigating and arresting personnel,” but in Ashford’s case, “we don’t know who the cop was,” said Samuel J. Samaro, of the Pashman Stein firm, representing North Jersey Media Group.

Samaro also argued that the reporters were never told what records were responsive to their OPRA requests. “The problem in this case is that we have no idea standing here today what the universe of records looks like,” Samaro argued. “The state is supposed to provide some kind of log, a list of things that are responsive to our request.

“You have to make them tell us what they have,” he told the court, “so that we can weigh in on it knowledgeably.”

Jacobson countered that the state could set a dangerous precedent by releasing that log, opening the door so that “a drug dealer in Camden could submit a … request for ‘an index of all the documents in your investigation of me.’ ”

Judge Thomas W. Sumners Jr. asked whether the public has an interest in seeing the records, considering a string of high-profile cases in Staten Island, Ferguson, Mo., and North Charleston, S.C., in which police killed African-American males.

Samaro said it was “hugely important” to see the video, if one exists. In the South Carolina case, a white police officer was indicted shortly after video of him surfaced shooting an unarmed black man fleeing on foot.

“There was a video which showed the public exactly what happened, and as a result everybody did the right thing and there was no controversy,” he said. “In this case, we believe there was videotape. If there is videotape, that should be released here.”

Jacobson, the state’s attorney, said the law is “just getting started” on how to handle video from police body cameras and dashboard cameras from police cars. “We certainly don’t want a precedent … that all video information has to be released under OPRA,” he said.

At the trial court level in Bergen County, Superior Court Judge Peter E. Doyne ruled in favor of North Jersey Media Group in January.

“Above all, given the lack of objections from the victim’s family, the public has a greater interest in the release of the records than in their suppression,” Doyne wrote in his decision. “In the shadow of numerous incidents and subsequent protests surrounding killings of African American men by police officers, the public interest is in being informed of details of such an incident.”