Former N.J. police chief accused of hate crimes

The former police chief of a small township in New Jersey has been arrested on federal hate-crime and civil-rights charges for what federal authorities described as a pattern of racist comments and behavior, including slamming an AfricanAmerican teen’s head into a metal door jam and saying that black people are “like ISIS.”

Frank Nucera Jr., 60, who had been chief of the Borden Township Police Department, was arrested Monday, and the charges against him were unsealed Tuesday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal District Court in New Jersey, Nucera frequently referred to African-Americans by racial slurs and espoused violence toward them. In November 2015, for example, when he was talking to an officer about an AfricanAmerican man he believed to have slashed the tires of a police vehicle, Nucera reportedly said: “These (expletives) are like ISIS, they have no value. They should line them all up and mow ‘em down. I’d like to be on the firing squad, I could do it.”

Federal authorities said Nucera retired from the police department shortly after New Jersey’s attorney general was informed of the investigation into him. during a storm that walloped the Northeast this week, officials said.

The storm cut power to nearly 1.5 million homes and businesses in the region at its peak. More than 440,000 people were still without power Wednesday.

Because of dry conditions, the trees’ roots weren’t healthy, and ground conditions and foliage that remained on the trees made them more susceptible to wind, said Peter Rogers, acting director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Virtually all of New England is either experiencing a moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.