Ex-cop, others file complaint against TPD director »
TRENTON » A former Trenton Police office says he filed a complaint with Mercer County prosecutors against city police director Sheilah Coley for telling officers to stand down during an apparent arson call at a downtown liquor store during last month’s riot.
The Trentonian obtained body-camera footage from a source of Coley’s interaction with officers outside City Hall.
The clip was fast-forwarded to the part that captured the police director calling off the officers as they prepared to respond to Tony Liquor, which was one of dozens of businesses that were vandalized and ransacked during the May 31 riot.
Some of the audio is difficult to hear because of radio chatter and what sounded like a helicopter hovering overhead.
“Where are you going?” Coley asked a group of officers. “What’s your mission? OK, so can you do anything about a fire? No, right? Can you stop anybody from pouring gas on a building? No, right? So that’s not your mission. That’s the fire department’s mission. All of this is happening because of tactical error. Let’s not put error on top of error, right? So you guys are going to remain staged here. As a matter of fact, one, two, three, four, you go back to headquarters and man the barrier.”
Osterman, a retired Mercer County sheriff’s officer and ex-TPD cop, said in a Facebook post that he filed the complaint last week with Mercer County Prosecutor
Angelo Onofri’s office. He was also an outspoken critic of former Police Director Joseph Santiago under Mayor Doug Palmer.
“I received acknowledgment of receipt of the complaint and can only hope that as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Mercer County, Prosecutor Onofri arrives to the proper and just conclusion regarding the events that transpired on May 31, 2020, in the City of Trenton,” he wrote.
The Trentonian asked a MCPO spokeswoman if the office received the ex-cop’s complaint. Casey DeBlasio responded that her office “received complaints from the Latino Merchants Association as well as a city property owner,” and it is “looking into the matter.”
Osterman didn’t respond to a message sent through Facebook messenger seeking further comment.
But he made it abundantly clear in his post that he believed Coley’s order to the officers was improper and jeopardized lives, saying she’s unfit to continuing leading the department.
“We learn a lot about a person in times of crisis, and after two very serious and distinct crises in the city of Trenton, we’ve learned that Director Coley is not the person for the job of police director. It is time to act Mayor Gusciora,” Osterman wrote.
Osterman was hardly alone in his outrage over the civilian police director’s order.
While the police union for rank-and-file hasn’t made its official position known, several officers privately expressed concerns about Coley’s handling of the riot.
Police sources blamed Coley for sending anywhere between 12 and 20 officers home around 7 p.m., about an hour before the rioting and looting erupted, feeling she was more concerned about overtime costs than public safety.
Vandals smashed windows and looted downtown businesses, and set a Trenton Police cruiser on fire.
Coley defended the decision to send the officers home when pressed by The Trentonian at a previous news conference, contending it was intelligence-based decision.
Crowds had dissipated after thousands of people marched on the Statehouse as part of peaceful protest of the death of George Floyd earlier in the day.
The scene turned violent after 8 p.m., with cops receiving calls about looting at Tony Liquor at 105 East Hanover Street.
Osterman said in his post that dispatchers were told someone throwing gas and trying to torch the building, which also houses apartments where dozens of people live.
The Trentonian was unable to independently confirm that as it awaited the city’s response to a public records request for more footage, radio transmissions and police documents that will shed more light on TPD’s response.
Tony Arias, owner of the liquor store, told The Trentonian in a previous interview that the looters trashed his business and “even tried to burn our building down.”
He showed Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker some charred papers from inside his office.
In a statement, Arias confirmed that he also filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office over Coley’s actions, estimating his business suffered $300,000 in damages from the riot.
“I believe the video speaks for itself,” he said. “It clearly shows the incompetence and self-interest of this director in ignoring citizens’ needs during a crisis . ... I am sure that if the police could speak freely, every one of them in the City of Trenton would be asking the mayor to get rid of the police director. We are very saddened by this whole situation and a change is due.” The ex-cop Osterman claimed officers gathered at City Hall to formulate a response to the reported arson, but Coley called them off. “Countless police officers have rescued numerous people from burning buildings before the fire department arrived, and I’m certain if you asked the county prosecutor and the fire department who’s job it is to stop a person from throwing gas on a building during a riot they’d say without hesitation it was the police department’s job,” he wrote. Demanding accountability for the alleged indiscretion, the ex-cop called on Mayor Reed Gusciora to dismiss Coley for malfeasance and incompetence. He also slammed her response to violent crime. Coley put out a call to action to residents after the day a 12-yearold girl was shot in the stomach on Wood Street. The carnage came a day after Dontae Barnes was gunned down for Trenton’s 15th murder of the year. Coley and Gusciora did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.