NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Two sergeants and a correctional officer in Passaic County were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a pretrial detainee, the Department of Justice announced.
Sergeants Jose Gonzalez, 45, and Donald Vinales, 38, were charged alongside Lorenzo Bowden, 39, with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, prosecutors said.
Bowden also caught one count of making false statements.
According to the criminal complaint, a detainee at Passaic County Jail splashed a correctional officer with a mixture that contained urine on Jan. 22, 2021.
A day later, the defendants allegedly took the detainee to a “blind spot,” or area without surveillance cameras. Gonzalez and Vinales then assaulted the detainee while he was handcuffed, the DOJ said.
The assailants are accused of knocking the detainee to the ground and beating him, without intervention from Bowden.
The victim was taken to a local hospital the next day, and his injuries were documented.
Officials said that the sergeants and correctional officer were required to submit documentation with information about their use of force, but they did not.
In April 2022, the defendants received a subpoena in connection to the investigation. They met, among others, and agreed to not cooperate with federal investigators and say that nothing had happened to the detainee, the DOJ said.
Six months later, in October, Bowden falsely stated that the detainee had not been assaulted, and there wasn’t any communication among those who participated or witnessed the assault.
The maximum sentence for the civil rights violation is 10 years, for obstruction of justice is 20 years and making false statements is five years.
The case is being prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Civil Rights Task Force in Newark.