SEND IN THE FEDS
FBI said to be investigating Ewing Police over 2018 excessive force allegations >>
EWING >> Can’t hide anymore.
The feds are investigating members of Ewing Police who allegedly used excessive force on a Black teenager three years ago, multiple sources told The Trentonian.
The FBI declined to confirm existence of the probe, which centers on allegations that members of the township police kicked snow in the face of a 16-year-old during a January 2018 arrest.
The township battled for two years to keep the alleged excessive force incident under wraps, spending six figures on attorneys to oppose The Trentonian’s fight for records in the case.
The allegations later surfaced in a 2019 whistleblower lawsuit brought by longtime township cop Lalena Lamson, which has since been settled, court records show.
Lamson’s attorney didn’t respond to a message seeking settlement details.
Lamson declined to comment Thursday when asked whether she was cooperating with the feds in the excessive force probe.
Ewing Police is the latest department in Mercer County to face a federal probe into allegations of excessive force.
The feds previously nabbed two Trenton cops and convicted ex-Bordentown Township Police chief Frank Nucera over similar claims.
Lamson had complained in a letter to the state Attorney General’s Office about her department’s handling of the incident and apparently went to the FBI once nothing was done about her allegations.
Lamson has been with the township police for roughly two decades, serving in several capacities, including internal affairs.
Her lawsuit alleged she faced retaliation her reporting officers’ alleged criminal misdeeds to upper brass, including the Jan. 5, 2018 matter involving the Black teenager.
A redacted use-of-force report showed that Officer Kevin Hoarn placed the teen, who has never been identified, into a compliance hold after he “resisted police officer control” while being taken into custody during a reported car heist on the 100 block of Central Avenue.
Lamson alleged other officers manhandled the teen but didn’t document their actions.
She singled out Officer Matthew Przemieniecki as the “primary instigator,” records show.
None of the officers were disciplined for repeatedly kicking snow in the teen’s face, according to Lamson’s suit.
The snow-kicking was reportedly caught on tape, and sources said the feds issued subpoenas to the township to secure the footage, along with other relevant records.
The teen was accused of stealing a vehicle left warming up that morning, a police source previously said.
Lamson’s husband, Nick, also an officer, spotted the vehicle on Parkway Avenue and pursued it before calling off the chase, the source said.
The teen, who was later charged with unlawful taking means of conveyance, crashed and bailed out of the vehicle and was apprehended on Central Avenue.
The police source claimed officers kicked snow in his face while he was down on the ground to teach him a lesson.
“It was a, ‘Hey you got caught.’ Sh*t you shouldn’t be doing” as an officer, the police source said.
Township officials, including Mayor Bert Steinmann and police chief Albert Rhodes, ignored multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment on the federal probe.
It’s the same defensive posture that the township took when The Trentonian first sought records in the case in 2018.
An appeals court sided with the newspaper in a landmark decision that slammed Ewing for denying access to the use-offorce report.
The township turned over the report after the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.
The township paid $101,000 for The Trentonian’s legal fees as the prevailing party.
It shelled out another $72,000 for outside lawyers to fight the case, records showed.