Daily Record – by Kathleen Hopkins
FREEHOLD — Little Silver police officer Steven Solari was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison with no chance for release on parole for failing to take an injured man for medical treatment, repeatedly punching him in the head while handcuffed, lying in a police report to justify his actions and trying to get a first-aid responder to back up his lie.
Solari, 40, a member of the Little Silver police force since July 1999, also was ordered to forfeit his $91,000-a-year job and any future prospect for public employment, under the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia.
Vernoia said the sentence, which is mandated by state law, is harsh but correct.
“Police officers must know they cannot assault defenseless individuals in their custody for no reason,” Vernoia said.
The judge said Solari’s crimes show he has a propensity for violence and dishonesty, and that the officer showed no remorse for them.
Solari stood trial last year and was convicted of four counts of official misconduct, as well as hindering his own apprehension and simple assault.
The misconduct charges stemmed from several acts by Solari after he was summoned to check on the welfare of Little Silver resident Sean Casey on Dec. 29, 2009. Vernoia said the jury found that Solari failed to take Casey, who was injured and bleeding, to get medical treatment, and instead took him to the police station; that he punched Casey in the head three times while Casey was handcuffed; that he lied in a police report, falsely saying Casey had lunged at him; and he tried to get a first-aid responder to also say that Casey had lunged.
Defense attorney Edward C. Bertucio said Solari maintains his innocence, and his law firm, Hobbie, Corrigan and Bertucio, plans to appeal the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201403061524/NJNEWS14/303060022
Like the cops always say about the criminals – they always say that they are innocent.
This cop was found guilty just like the commonlow lifed criminal that he is. There is just no telling how many times he got away with doing this exact same thing and has not been brought up on charges.
Yea, and this cop was making $91,000. a year to beat up hand cuffed so called criminals when this cop/pig IS the real criminal all along as most of us would already expect. Yea, $91,000. a year.
I once lived in the Little Silver, NJ area, near the Monmouth Race Track (which was also the disaster relocation FEMA camp used after Hurricane Sandy in the fall of 2012).
In the early 1980s this area was considered a beach community and tourist area. The police were more easy-going because most of the people who lived in this area were upper-middle class, and many like me, were train commuters working in Lower Manhattan, NYC.
I have not visited that area since the early 1990s. I will have to conclude that much has changed since that time, or shortly after 911. At least for now, the Judge in Freehold, NJ and, some officials on the Little Silver police force are not practicing the same unlawful standards as many of our Nation’s law enforcement agencies (or perhaps they could no longer hide this cop’s brutal tendencies?).