Cops Almost Ripped My Ear Off, Essex County Man Claims; Town Settles Lawsuit: Report

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Bloomfield town officials agreed to settle a lawsuit from an Essex County man who claimed that local police officers almost ripped his ear off during an arrest in 2013, according to a report.

Last week - after receiving public records about the 2015 settlement via an OPRA request - the NJ Civil Settlements blog reported that municipal officials agreed to pay Bloomfield resident Rodolfo Crespo $243,250 after he was allegedly assaulted following his arrest on drug-related charges in March of 2013.

The full civil complaint can be seen online here.

As part of the settlement’s confidentiality clause, Crespo agreed not to disclose "the amount or facts of settlement to any third persons.” But if a government agency is involved in the settlement, it is a matter of public record, the blog stated.

Read the full report here.

According to NJ Civil Settlements:

“In his complaint, Crespo said that after he was arrested after a March 5, 2013 traffic accident, he was assaulted at police headquarters by officers Orlando Trinidad and Jennifer P. Horn. According to the complaint, Trinidad, in response to Crespo's request for assistance making a phone call, grabbed Crespo by the throat, threw him on the floor and placed his knee in the small of Crespo's back while he and Horn took turns punching him. Crespo said that he suffered ‘head trauma, contusions and a right ear hematoma with a posterior laceration and cartilaginous disruption.’ He also claimed to have a ‘thoracic spine fracture’ and said that ‘his right ear . . . had to be sewn back on.’”

Crespo claimed in his lawsuit that the alleged beating was “not an isolated incident” in the Bloomfield Police Department.

During a separate incident in November, along with a fellow Bloomfield officer, Orlando Trinidad was convicted for his role in the violent, unjustified beating of a suspect on the Garden State Parkway in 2012 after their actions were captured on a cruiser’s dashcam.

• See related article: Bloomfield Cops Convicted: Caught On Dashcam Beating Suspect On Garden State Parkway

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