3 NJ Cops Charged After Stomping On Black Teen: Feds

MERCER COUNTY, NJ —Three Ewing Township Police officers were indicted on civil rights charges for assaulting a minor during an arrest in 2018, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced Friday.

Retired Lt. Michael Delahanty, 51, of Robbinsville, Matthew Przemieniecki, 43, of Hamilton, and Justin Ubry, 33, of Burlington, were indicted for stomping on a handcuffed Black teen and kicking snow in his face in 2018.

The three officers surrendered Friday morning and are scheduled to appear by videoconference on Friday afternoon, Honig said.

According to the indictment, on Jan. 5, 2018, police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in Ewing Township. Officers found the crashed vehicle and saw the driver running from the scene. A diver, a teenager, was later pulled out from a detached shed on a residential property, and laid face down on the snow-covered ground, Honig said.

As other officers handcuffed the minor, Delahanty stepped on the back of the teen’s head, pressing his face into the snow, while Przemieniecki and Ubry kicked snow into the victim’s face, according to the indictment.

Honig said the teen did not resist law enforcement at any time and that the force used by the three officers “was unreasonable and excessive and violated the victim’s constitutional right to be free from such force.”

The three have been charged in a two-count indictment with deprivation of rights under color of law. Delahanty and Przemieniecki are charged in Count One with a felony offense of deprivation of rights under color of law causing bodily injury, and Ubry is charged in Count Two with a misdemeanor offense of deprivation of rights under color of law.

The felony civil rights charge against Delahanty and Przemieniecki carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. The misdemeanor civil rights charge against Ubry carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000, Honig said.

The teen’s identity remains unknown.

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