Bayonne Police Officer Domenico Lillo was arrested for violating a defendant’s civil rights by using excessive force during an arrest, as well as falsifying records in an attempt to conceal the alleged crime, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Lillo, 44, of Bayonne, was arrested by federal agents this morning and after a federal grand jury in Newark returned an indictment charging him with the deprivation of civil rights under color of law and falsification of records, officials said.
“Bayonne Police Officer Domenico Lillo was arrested by the FBI this morning,” FBI spokeswoman Barbara Woodruff exclusively told Hudson County View earlier today.
Lillo appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark at 2:00 p.m. in front of Judge James Clark for his arraignment, where he was released on $100,000 unsecured bond.
According to the indictment, on the early evening of Dec. 27, 2013, Lillo and other police officers from the Bayonne Police Department went to an address in Bayonne to execute a Sussex County arrest warrant.
Lillo allegedly struck the subject of the warrant, Brandon Walsh, with a flashlight while the individual was handcuffed and not resisting arrest, which resulted in bodily injury.
Lillo then allegedly falsified a Bayonne Police Department Use of Force Report related to the arrest with the intent to impede an investigation into the case.
The use of excessive force count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while the charge of falsifying records carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
“The [Mayor Jimmy] Davis administration is going to fully cooperate with the FBI in every and anyway possible to assist their efforts,” Bayonne spokesman Jeff Meyer told Hudson County View.
Following Lillo’s arraignment, Meyer said the city of Bayonne has suspended him without pay.
kind of messed up; a police officer and beat the hell out of you and get a max of 10 years, but, if the officer forgets to cross a “T” or dot an “i” on some paperwork the officer gets a max of 20 years
listen im from there and u dont know how crooked the police is there and that was my friend they hit for NO REASON……………………just like they killed my friends uncle while he was breaking up a fight…..so i have no remorse for those PUBLIC SERVANTS!!! THATS ALL THEY ARE…EDUCATE YOURSELF!!
If they get anything at all, now they want to crack down on these criminals with badges when simply holding the bad ones accountable through good leadership and efforcement of rules they let these guys smear the work of good men and women on the force, instead they turn a blind eye and the results are people getting hurt or even killed and taxpayers picking up the tab for their misdeeds over and over.
[…] Hudson County View first reported, Lillo was arrested at his home on the morning of January 23 in regards to a case […]
That’s Bayonne for you. All of Hudson County is corrupt; even the Sheriff’s Department try and make a complaint that code of blue they stick together no matter what.