NORTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A New Jersey state appeals court has upheld the decision to fire a North Plainfield police officer for having sex with a 20-year-old homeless woman as her young child slept nearby.
Mikeedwar Jean-Baptiste, 34, was fired for misconduct after he admitted to having sex with the 20-year-old woman in 2017 at a Kenilworth hotel after she came to the police department for help, according to court papers. He paid for a hotel room for the woman and her child in his own name with his own money.
Jean-Baptiste sued the department and borough officials seeking to get his job back, but the lawsuit was dismissed last year, NJ Advance reports. Last Thursday, the appeals court ruled in favor of his firing and the dismissal of his lawsuit.
"Our court has routinely held an officer’s off-duty misconduct may serve as the basis for the officer’s termination," the appeals court wrote. "Unassailable evidence in the record established the nature and severity of [the officer’s] misconduct."
According to court documents, the 20-year-old approached the North Plainfield Police Department with her child, asking for help because she had nowhere to stay.
Jean-Baptiste then followed the woman in his patrol car to a social services office and ran her license plate on his computer "to get her story," court papers said.
The woman later returned to the department asking for Jean-Baptiste, telling him social services would not help her, according to documents.
Documents said that's when he brought her to the hotel, left, and later returned with condoms and alcohol. He drank a bottle by himself and had sex with her as her child slept.
According to court papers, the woman called Kenilworth police the next day to report the sex was "against her will."
He was arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault and suspended from his role in 2017. The charge was dropped two years later when the woman failed to testify at trial, according to court records.
A hearing officer determined in September 2020 that he was guilty of misconduct as evidenced by "an abuse of his authority and power as a police officer" and that he should be terminated.
"His position as a police officer, the trust, power and access provided to him by virtue of his office was intentionally and purposely used to arrange a one-night stand with what he knew to be a particularly vulnerable woman, who came to the police department seeking help," the officer wrote.
He ultimately sued over his termination, seeking to reinstate his job, by claiming that the encounter was consensual, the officer had an unblemished record, and that he was off-duty at the time of the encounter.
Jean-Baptiste’s lawsuit was dismissed in June 2021, with a civil court trial judge finding he violated state laws regarding misconduct as well as multiple departmental rules and regulations.
The lawyer who represented Jean-Baptiste in the sexual assault charge and his termination hearing told the outlet that he would not be able to comment on the appellate ruling.
The attorneys who filed a civil lawsuit against the borough did not return a call seeking comment, while the borough’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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