Former Middlesex County Sheriff’s Officer Guilty In Road Rage Incident

MILLTOWN, NJ — A former Middlesex County Sheriff's officer was found guilty last Thursday, Sept. 21 for criminal mischief in a 2015 motor vehicle incident that escalated into road rage. He was arrested two more times after that for unrelated incidents, including assault and illegally owning an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Neil Raciti, 49, had been a Middlesex County Sheriff's officer for 14 years when the incident occurred, on Dunhams Corner Road on the East Brunswick-South Brunswick border. Raciti lives in Milltown, New Jersey. He also used to be a Councilman in Milltown and was President of Milltown's Borough Council in 2015.

On March 29, 2015, Raciti was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his wife. As they were driving on Dunhams Corner Road traveling from East Brunswick into South Brunswick, four teenagers were tailgating in a car behind the couple. Raciti, who was off duty at the time, got out of his car at the light on Cranbury and Dunhams Corner roads, and approached the car behind him while shouting profanities.

With his hand, Raciti smashed the windshield of the other car, prosecutors said.

Both East Brunswick and South Brunswick police officers responded to the scene.

Raciti remained a Middlesex County Sheriff's officer after the road rage incident. However, later that year, in September 2015, he was suspended without pay after he was arrested in two more incidents, and has not been permitted to return to duty since. Sometime around Sept. 20, 2015, he was arrested and charged with third-degree aggravated assault after he allegedly shoved someone and broke their elbow. He was then arrested again, on Sept. 25, 2015, and charged with having a AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle that was not registered. He also had a high-capacity magazine.

He opted to have a bench trial, whereby the judge determined the facts, instead of a jury. After the five-day bench trial, last week Superior Court Judge Benjamin Bucca found Raciti guilty of criminal mischief, a disorderly person’s offense. Raciti will be sentenced on December 8 by the same judge. He faces up to the maximum of 180 days in the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, or he can be sentenced to a term of probation.