AFTER AFTER ARREST, ARREST
Man says police beat him up while cuffed in custody; police say he resisted, assaulted officer >>
TRENTON >> Kendall Rossi’s face appears unblemished in his mugshot.
But a short time later, Rossi’s head would look like a badly bruised peach and police — realizing what was done — needed to take him to the hospital.
Rossi said last week in an exclusive interview with The Trentonian that he was severely beaten by three Trenton cops as he was handcuffed at the police department’s headquarters following his Feb. 27 arrest on drug charges.
Police don’t deny that a struggle ensued with Rossi at police headquarters, but claim he “physically resisted” officers.
Following the altercation, Rossi sustained a concussion, a badly sprained shoulder, and swelling and contusions to his face, according to his hospital records provided to The Trentonian.
“When I first entered the police station, I was fine,” Rossi described last week. “But when I left, I was bruised up — looked like the Elephant Man — couldn’t see out of my right eye.” Police also said an officer suffered injuries in the struggle but did not provide specifics.
Alleged Assault
After Rossi was processed at the police headquarters on North Clinton Avenue for a mugshot and fingerprints, he was handcuffed to a metal bench.
Rossi was arrested with another man, who he says he was conversing with, as police typed up the charges.
“An officer gets up and said, ‘Shut the f**k up,’” Rossi recalls. “So he’s standing over me, calling me a tough guy.”
As officers were going to transport the arrestee upstairs, Rossi alleges one of the cops ripped his arm behind his back.
“While he does that, the other officer comes rushing in from across the room, punches me in the back of my head, slams me into a table,” Rossi said of his account, noting the table then goes flying. “The other cop jumps on my back. They’re twisting my arms up behind my back as one officer knees me in my face. The other cop’s kicking me in my face and stomping me.”
During the alleged assault, Rossi said one of the cops told him, “You’re a tough guy now.”
“Boom, boom, boom,” Rossi remembers of the attack. “They just keep on repeatedly beating me and beating me and beating me — two Hispanic cops and one white cop. I could feel everything, blood all over the place. I was thinking they were going to smash my skull.”
After the dust had settled, Rossi said police realized what they had just done.
“Once they get me up, their whole expressions changed,” Rossi said. “Because now, my whole face is deformed and swollen. I can’t see, can’t talk straight.”
At that point, Rossi alleges a sergeant came into the room and assessed the damage.
“He said, ‘What the f**k guys, you all took it too far,” Rossi recalls. “You have to take him to the hospital now.”
Rossi’s hospital records show he was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton at 3;45 a.m. on Feb. 27 and released about five hours later.
Police’s Version
Rossi, 38, was arrested early in the morning on Feb. 27 with Joshua Carr after Street Crimes Unit detectives allegedly witnessed the pair involved in drug activity on the 100 block of Liberty Street. During the investigation, police recovered five decks of heroin and $87 in cash, police told The Trentonian on the day of Rossi’s arrest.
Police said Rossi was brought to headquarters, where he was processed.
“After that processing, the detectives went to take his property, during which time he physically resisted the detectives,” Trenton Lt. Stephen Varn said Monday. “At which point, detectives attempted to gain control of him. During that time, a struggle ensued.”
During the struggle, Varn said, Rossi and an officer suffered injuries and police transported the arrestee to the hospital for treatment.
Rossi believes the video cameras in the police station and Carr, who witnessed the battle, will corroborate his story. Carr did not return a message seeking comment.
Before he was allegedly tuned up by officers, Rossi said, police told him to take his “s**t off, before we snatch it off.”
“I had no property on me,” Rossi insisted on Tuesday after learning that police said the struggle occurred over his property. “I had a tank top, pajama pants, a pair of sneakers, and a gold rosary.”
“When I first entered the police station, I was fine. But when I left, I was bruised up — looked like the Elephant Man — couldn’t see out of my right eye.” — Kendall Rossi “After [the] processing, the detectives went to take his property, during which time he physically resisted the detectives. At which point, detectives attempted to gain control of him. During that time, a struggle ensued.” — Trenton Lt. Stephen Varn
Rossi was also perplexed as to how an officer sustained injuries.
“My hands were handcuffed the whole time,” he said. “How did he sustain those injuries?”
Investigation
Rossi filed an internal affairs complaint against the officers who allegedly assaulted him on Friday.
“If I do not document the occurrence, I will be condoning the unlawful act of police brutality that I sustained during a recent arrest,” Rossi wrote in the complaint obtained by
The Trentonian. “If something is not done with respect to this incident, I fear ... we will have a tough time being
able to distinguish law enforcement from the criminals.”
After viewing surveillance footage, an internal affairs officer allegedly asked the beaten detainee why hethrewhimselfintothetable,Rossi said Tuesday.
Policeconfirmedthereisanactive internal affairs investigation.
“As per our policy, the matter has been referred to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office for review and that’s where it currently is at this time,” Varn said. “We as a police department take any allegations of misconduct very seriously. The matter will be investigated fully — not only by our personnel — but by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.”
A spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed Tuesday that Trenton police
forwardedtheallegationsforreview, but declined further comment.
On the night of his arrest, Rossi said, he was smoking a cigarette on his porch when he saw a friend, Carr, come out of McManimon’s pub.
“There’s no drug transactions, there’s no anything to make you even insinuate or think there’s something going on,” Rossi said. “I shook hishand.Ihaven’tseenhiminalong time.”
Police pulled up a short time later and, Rossi said, Carr allegedly dropped a couple bags of drugs on the ground.
“I didn’t even notice but he dropped whatever he had in his hand,” Rossi said, noting he left his front door open on the chilly night to quickly say hello to him in a tank top and pajama pants.
After being taken to the hospital,
Rossiwastransportedbacktoheadquarters, and then sent to the Mercer County Correction Center for several days before he was released.
Rossi was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, intent to distribute drugs near a school property, possession of drugs, two counts of possession with intent to distribute, loitering to commit a controlled substances offense and three counts of resisting arrest.
“I never had an assault on my record,” Rossi said, noting he served time for hitting someone while driving with a suspended license but has been on the up-and-up since his youth. “I never had a resisting arrest in my life. I don’t know any of these police,noneofthesepoliceknowme as a known drug dealer. I have not sold drugs in years.”