CHECK THE TAPES
Cops in TPD claim Police Director reported a person tried to sell her drugs downtown, video and records inconclusive
TRENTON » The footage seems inconsequential: Trenton Police Sgt. Cynthia Hargis and police director Sheilah Coley pull up outside the Crown Fried Chicken on North Broad Street, where a group of people are gathered outside.
They exit a black police SUV cruiser, both wearing white masks.
Hargis – who looked like she was holding a key lanyard in her hands – escorts the police director across the street, toward the Bank of America on East State Street at about 1:27 p.m. on April 27.
What happened next is hotly in dispute.
Police sources claim Hargis dialed up police headquarters demanding to know where the downtown walking post – on its lunch break – was because a drug dealer had just offered Coley some Percocet.
“They get out. Cynthia gets on the phone and calls and says, ‘Where is the downtown post? The director was just approached by someone selling Percocet. We need them to come and clean this up right now,’” claimed a police source with intimate knowledge of the call.
The officer who took the call from Hargis declined to speak to The Trentonian, gagged by an order Coley put out a day after the April 27 incident with Hargis.
The order, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper, reminded officers in bold capital letters that the police director or her designee were “the ONLY person[s] authorized to speak on behalf of the Trenton Police Department.”
The apparent inconsistencies with how Hargis may have conveyed the information came into sharp focus when members of the downtown team attempted to follow up on her call.
They had no suspect description to go off – usually a key piece of information cops are trained to convey in the early stages of any investigation – and noticed after reviewing the cameras that no one seemed to approach the sergeant or Coley while they were downtown.
The police department does not dispute that Hargis — who sued in 2018 after saying she was passed up for a promotion — made the call but says she did so after overhearing someone shout something about selling Percocet.
A police spokesman said Hargis never contended during the call that the individual approached Coley.
She did not attempt to investigate further to identify the suspected dealer because she couldn’t tell from where the comment came, Trenton Police Lt. Jason Kmiec said.
The police department acknowledged in response to The Trentonian’s detailed public records that Hargis and Coley were the police officials depicted on the video but that the only proof that could settle the dispute doesn’t exist.
“Any call that was made involving the incident was made on a non-recorded line,” Sgt. Miguel Acosta wrote in an official memo to Dwayne Harris, the city clerk and records custodian.
Several sources confirmed that the patrol administration line that Hargis called is not among the recorded lines at the police department.
Michael Schiaretti, the president of PBA Local 11, which represents the rankand-file, said he heard stories about what happened “third- and fourth-hand.”
After reviewing the footage and speaking to Hargis, Schiaretti said he had no reason to “not believe” her account of what transpired.
Official Denials
Mayor Reed Gusciora and members of his cabinet say they never heard of the allegations involving Hargis or the police director until they were contacted by the newspaper.
They insist that’s the case despite the newspaper’s May 1 request for the video footage and audio of the Hargis call.
Members of the administration have previously communicated with The Trentonian about other OPRA requests, suggesting the cabinet keeps close tabs on records that the newspaper seeks.
“I put [this] in the category of Robin’s allegations against me,” Gusciora told The Trentonian in a phone interview.
He was referring to councilwoman Robin Vaughn’s claims that the openly gay mayor was a “pedophile.”
“That’s all news to me. I still have full confidence in the police director to do her job. I’ll leave it at that,” Gusciora said, noting internal attacks on the police director are expected because she has made drastic changes some officers don’t like, such as implementing the walking posts.
Ex-police director Ernest Parrey Jr. also faced internal discord, and some members of the department relished the bad press he received over his widely reported and condemned “hood rats” remark.
Gusciora’s first pick for police director, Carroll Russell, also endured pushback and drew headlines, including over an old race-baiting investigation.
As for the Coley claims, law director John Morelli echoed the mayor’s remarks in an email Tuesday saying he had “no idea” what The Trentonian was talking about when it asked him if he was tapped to look into the matter.
Gusciora’s office released a statement later in the day further dispelling any wrongdoing on Hargis’s or Coley’s part.
“No investigation regarding Director Coley has been reported to the Office of the Mayor,” city spokesman Connor Ilchert said.
Kmiec, the TPD spokesman, said he was unaware of any internal affairs investigation into Hargis.
Coley rarely conducts interviews with The Trentonian outside of news conferences, deferring comment to her spokesperson.
Kmiec, who is officially
Coley’s designee, acknowledged in an interview that a “remark was overheard” by Sgt. Hargis but that she didn’t know where it came from or who made it.
It was unclear from the surveillance reviewed by this newspaper when the comment was made as the cameras in the downtown area contained only soundless footage.
The Trentonian reviewed the footage extensively and was unable to make a conclusive determination about what happened without any supporting phone call.
Inconclusive Footage
The surveillance footage shows Coley’s unmarked police SUV, driven by Hargis, pull up in front of the Crown Fried Chicken around 1:26 p.m.
A man in what appears to be a purple jacket and light-colored pants is standing with another man in a darker, puffier blue jacket and a mask.
The man in purple glanced back at the police cruiser as it turns right from East State Street onto North Broad Street.
The men did not seem to pay much attention to the police cruiser after it parked, as another man in a red hat soon approached and greeted the group.
Around a dozen people congregated outside the chicken restaurant, and others walked by on the streets.
Moments after parking, driver Hargis and passenger Coley exited the police cruiser.
Coley was never approached by anybody and did not approach the group standing outside the chicken restaurant.
She did not appear to make much of the congregated group as she walked around the back of the police SUV where Hargis waited for her.
If a remark was made at that moment, Hargis and Coley did not appear to react to it, the video shows.
Together, they then jaywalked across North Broad Street toward the Bank of America before disappearing off screen at 1:27:17 p.m., according to the video.
They did not appear back on camera until 1:29:58 p.m., walking between two parked cars back toward the police cruiser.
The video ended seconds after they reappeared, and did not show the police officials driving off.
Separately, a second surveillance camera pointed toward the Dunkin’ Donuts at 47 East State Street — catty-corner from the Crown Chicken — appeared to show Hargis talking on the phone on the sidewalk outside the bank. Coley was nowhere in sight.
The person who looked like Hargis initially appeared back on camera at 1:27:38 p.m., in the right corner of the screen. But only her backside was visible.
Hargis was back on camera outside the bank at 1:28:03 p.m., in a dark uniform and white mask.
She appeared to be dangling a key lanyard in her hand while talking on the phone, according to the video.
Another police source confirmed with certainty that was Hargis in the second camera angle.
Hargis ended the call and then disappeared off camera at 1:29:30 p.m. She and Coley reappeared on the first camera less than a half-minute later.