The state of New Jersey is suing Clark Township police officials and former mayor Salvatore “Sal” Bonaccorso for racial discrimination, alleging officials instructed officers to “keep Black people out of Clark” through targeted policing practices.
The lawsuit, filed by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, names Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chief Pedro Matos and current Police Director Patrick Grady, alleging that town leaders “systematically discriminated against and harassed Black and other non-white motorists.”
The lawsuit alleges that Clark police disproportionately targeted Black and Hispanic drivers, stopping Black motorists about 3.7 times and Hispanic motorists about 2.2 times more often than white drivers, violating New Jersey civil rights laws and the state constitution.
Officials claim the borough used traffic enforcement quotas, focused on areas near the Garden State Parkway and neighboring towns with larger minority populations, and used minor violations or even fabricated marijuana odor claims as a basis to search vehicles.
Evidence includes audio recordings from as early as 2019 in which Bonaccorso used racial slurs and instructed police officers to “keep chasing the spooks out of town,” a derogatory term aimed at Black people, and to focus enforcement on roads leading from neighboring communities with larger minority populations, according to the suit.
I am pretty sure no one is surprised by this, but it is just interesting to see what the forum racist think about it, maybe they will want to move there.
The lawsuit, filed by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, names Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chief Pedro Matos and current Police Director Patrick Grady, alleging that town leaders “systematically discriminated against and harassed Black and other non-white motorists.”
The lawsuit alleges that Clark police disproportionately targeted Black and Hispanic drivers, stopping Black motorists about 3.7 times and Hispanic motorists about 2.2 times more often than white drivers, violating New Jersey civil rights laws and the state constitution.
Officials claim the borough used traffic enforcement quotas, focused on areas near the Garden State Parkway and neighboring towns with larger minority populations, and used minor violations or even fabricated marijuana odor claims as a basis to search vehicles.
Evidence includes audio recordings from as early as 2019 in which Bonaccorso used racial slurs and instructed police officers to “keep chasing the spooks out of town,” a derogatory term aimed at Black people, and to focus enforcement on roads leading from neighboring communities with larger minority populations, according to the suit.
I am pretty sure no one is surprised by this, but it is just interesting to see what the forum racist think about it, maybe they will want to move there.