# New Jersey Officer Seeks Reinstatement



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*BRIAN SPADORA*
_Herald News (Passaic County, NJ)_









RUTHERFORD-- A police officer, suspended without pay for more than a year and facing criminal charges, is seeking to be reinstated after a state court judge said the charges should be dismissed.
But the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office has asked the judge to reconsider his opinion, and borough officials said there are no plans to drop departmental charges against police Sgt. Nicholas Loizzi.
The charges against Loizzi have not been dismissed.
Loizzi, a 19-year department veteran, was charged with several criminal and departmental offenses, including misconduct and filing a false report, stemming from the fact that he served as tour commander on duty on June 28, 2005, when two bounty hunters mistakenly arrested Rutherford resident Claudia Santana, as borough police officers looked on.
The bounty hunters, William Whitaker and Christopher Rue, dropped Santana off 35 miles from her home once they realized their mistake.
Santana said she plans to sue the borough over the arrest, as well as the police officers involved in the incident and the bounty hunters. Santana could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Loizzi was charged with filing false police reports and official misconduct.
On Aug. 17, state Superior Court Judge William C. Meehan issued an opinion that the charges should be dismissed because they were based on comments Loizzi made to his superiors after they denied his request to have an attorney present.
Loizzi was in the position of having to incriminate himself or lose his job, Meehan wrote in his opinion. On Nov. 3, Meehan is scheduled to hear the prosecutor's request to reconsider the opinion.
On Tuesday, after several supporters spoke on Loizzi's behalf at the Borough Council meeting, the sergeant said he was "looking forward to coming back and serving the people of my town."
"I've always been confident that I was going to be vindicated," he said.
But Borough Administrator Timothy Stafford disputed Loizzi's interpretation of Meehan's opinion.
"It's incorrect, flatly, to say that the indictment was dismissed," Stafford said, adding that the borough will assume that the criminal case against Loizzi will go forward until the court issues an order dismissing the charges.
No matter how the criminal case against Loizzi ends, the borough plans to proceed with departmental charges, Stafford said.
"He is facing serious administrative charges, the penalty for which the borough is seeking termination," he said. "Nothing to this point has exonerated Mr. Loizzi."
Reach Brian Spadora at 973-569-7132 or .

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