Nicholas Allbright
PATERSON — The lawyer for the family of a man who has been missing considering that Feb. 2 sued the borough of Haledon this week to get documents about the police investigation into his controversial disappearance.
Felix DeJesus, a 41-year-previous Haledon resident, was final found on Feb. 2 right after he was detained by two Paterson police officers following a disturbance in a metropolis bodega and then dropped off blocks absent at Westside Park, in accordance to his family members customers and law enforcement officers.
The lawsuit, which was submitted on Thursday, reported DeJesus’ family believes facts in the missing individual investigation file may possibly support them discover him. Haledon officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Haledon law enforcement have said five folks saw DeJesus at the park right after the law enforcement still left him there on a freezing night carrying a T-shirt and trousers. But Haledon police have not divulged the names of individuals folks or accurately what they advised investigators.
The carry out of the two officers, who turned off their police body cameras though DeJesus was nevertheless inside of their patrol auto, has been the issue of a Paterson Inner Affairs investigation, according to various sources acquainted with the circumstance. But the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Workplace has not acknowledged the existence of the IA probe.
An Open up Community Documents Request submitted on June 16 by the family’s attorney, Jeff Patti, sought a lot of documents from the Haledon law enforcement lacking person investigation, which includes the witness interviews. But Haledon on July 12 denied Patti’s ask for “due to the actuality that there is an ongoing investigation.”
Prior to Patti’s OPRA request, officials in Paterson experienced attempted to maintain private the video recordings from the body cameras worn by the two cops who detained DeJesus. But a decide ordered the recordings be unveiled soon after information companies filed an OPRA lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Paterson’s legislation director, Aymen Aboushi, despatched the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Workplace a letter on July 13 inquiring on behalf of the Paterson City Council that the Bergen County agency just take over the DeJesus investigation. Aboushi centered the request on “the visual appearance of a conflict of interest” due to the fact a single of the officers is similar to a council member in Paterson.
Authorities have not identified the cops by name. Neither did Aboushi’s letter. But Patti has reported in a letter to the Attorney General’s Business office that the officer in question is Jacob Feliciano, cousin of councilman Michael Jackson.
Jackson, who has been supportive of the DeJesus family’s calls for for responses in excess of the past 5 months, acknowledged the visual appearance of a conflict and said he has no dilemma with the probe staying shifted to the neighboring county. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office environment did not react to a reporter’s information relating to Aboushi’s letter.
On Tuesday evening, Jackson took exception with what he mentioned was an enhanced law enforcement existence at council meetings given that the DeJesus relatives started attending the classes. The relatives members — who have attended every single council session due to the fact February, consistently have engaged in indignant verbal exchanges with city officials throughout the conferences.
Jackson claimed prior to the DeJesus scenario that there would be no officers at the council’s workshop conferences and two officers at council business enterprise meetings. In the latest months, the councilman stated, there have been a few cops at City Hall on conference evenings and in some cases additional officers outside the house the developing.
“We’re getting officers off the streets when we’re by now short,” Jackson mentioned.
During Tuesday’s conference, Jackson asked for an rationalization for the cops, but none of the other officers furnished him with an reply.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Push. Email: [email protected]
