$40K for Keyport Police After 'Lit Cigarette' Lawsuit

The town of Keyport has quietly settled a lawsuit with three borough police officers who claim they were subjected to a hostile work environment — including having lit cigarettes flicked at them — after they arrested town administrator Lorene Wright in the municipal parking lot.

In December of 2012 Wright hit Keyport Detective Shannon Torres’ car, which was parked in the town lot.

When Torres said she went to her car and tried to talk to Wright, including asking for her license and registration, the town administrator “became aggravated and enraged, and quickly and aggressively moved towards (her) and bumped, touched, pushed and accosted (her,)” according to the suit filed by Torres and two other police officers who were at the scene, Joseph Rendina and Robert Aumack.

Torres, with the help of Rendina and Aumack, arrested Wright, charging her with aggravated assault on a police officer, among other offenses.

It was after that, the three cops say, that the retaliation began. The police allege that Wright and other Keyport city workers refused to pay them; openly threatened to fire them and even that Wright “flicked lit cigarettes” at them. You can read the entire lawsuit here.

The town, without admitting guilt, agreed to settle with the three officers: Torres received $20,000 while Rendina and Aumack each received $10,000.

The suit was settled on May 6 of this year, but it was just reported last week by NJ Civil Settlements.

Wright pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer and served a one-day suspension. She also had to undergo eight hours of sensitivity training.

She resigned from her city job in 2014, but the incident was not her first scuffle with police. She was accused of hitting the car of a Keyport police dispatcher in the same parking lot earlier in 2012. Those charges were later dropped.