N.J. State Trooper Accused Of Smashing Beer Bottle In Man's Face, Then Covering It Up

A New Jersey state trooper faces charges after he was accused of drunkenly smashing a beer bottle in a man's face, then joining with at least one other officer in covering up the incident, authorities said.

Trooper Steven Hodge has been charged with third-degree aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes and remains suspended without pay following the Nov. 14, 2014 incident, authorities said.

The lawyer for Nicholas Guidi, 26, of New York says he's seeking justice for his client 16 months after the MetLife Stadium altercation, which followed a New York Giants game.

Guidi's attorney, Josh McMahon, has filed a lawsuit against the State Police saying Hodge and other troopers filed a false report and attempted to cover up the altercation that left Guidi with a broken nose and cuts on his face.

McMahon said the attack happened outside the stadium after the Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers, Guidi's favorite team. According to McMahon, Guidi was celebrating the win when he got into an argument with Hodge, who was off-duty at the time, and Hodge's brother.

Hodge then approached Guidi's vehicle with a beer bottle, displayed his badge, identified himself as a trooper before smashing Guidi in the face, according to McMahon.

A police report written by one of the troopers, Christopher Madia, and published by NJ Advance Media, contradicts McMahon's description, calling Guidi "out of control" and trying to make make up the incident when he "smeared his bloody face on the hood of their pickup truck" (see the report below).

State Police spokesman Capt. Stephen Jones confirmed to Patch that Hodge was suspended on Nov. 9, 2015, 10 days after his indictment and almost a year after the bottle smashing incident.

Robert Ebberup, Hodge's criminal defense attorney, denied the allegations in an article published by NJ Advance Media, which broke the story early Thursday. He did not return calls to Patch.

McMahon questioned why it took Bergen prosecutors — who confirmed the incident, but offered few other details — nearly a year to file the charges.

McMahon also questioned why Hodge was allowed to continue his job duties "out on-the-road for an entire year with a firearm despite having engaged in violent conduct."

"This guy should have been terminated and in handcuffs that day," he told Patch. "He was still running around with his shotgun in his car."

Hodge had begun work as a state trooper just three months before the incident, in August 2014, Jones said.

The indictment published by NJ Advance Media says Hodge "did attempt to cause significant bodily injury to Nicholas Guidi and/or did purposely or knowingly or ... recklessly cause significant bodily injury" by using a beer bottle.

Jones said an internal and criminal investigation began immediately following the Giants game incident, though he declined to go into additional detail.

"What I can say is that the investigation has been more robust than what's been indicated" in the media, he said.

The report (see below) says Madia arrested Guidi for disorderly conducted and transported him away.

Jones declined to say whether additional officers could be involved in the incident, only saying that the State Police's investigation was put on hold following the indictment, and will remain that way "until the conclusion of the criminal matter."

McMahon said the disorderly conduct charge against Guidi, filed in East Rutherford municipal court, was dismissed on August 19, 2015. The former assistant Union County prosecutor then wrote a letter on Oct. 30, 2015 to "express our concerns regarding the competence and length of the purported criminal investigation into this matter."

A grand jury then handed up an indictment against Hodge that same day, McMahon said.