As the trial continues to resolve the discrimination lawsuit of retired Union City Police Officer Juan Estrella, two active police officers who supervised him took the stand on Tuesday.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
During the second day of the trial, much of the testimony was dominated by an intricate line of questioning to Rengel relating to the Union City PD employee handbook.
At one point in the day, Yasmin Estrella showed a performance evaluation Rengel conducted for former officer Estrella that he filled out. Rengel confirmed the purpose of the report is to review the employees over the course of the year allowing room for changes.
He further affirmed it was based on their knowledge, personal traits, skills, and beliefs, with a rating system of “acceptable,” “non-applicable,” and “unacceptable.”
According to Yasmin Estrella, former officer Estrella did not receive any “unacceptable” marks on that performance evaluation to which Rengel, reading the report on the stand, confirmed.
“Within the past few months, while Officer Estrella has been the subject of acute internal affairs investigations as such, I am confident that Officer Estrella has learned from his mistakes and can move forward to the future,” Rengel read from the report.
“The senior Officer Estrella has demonstrated the necessary to mold the newer officers in our department. Officer Estrella is helpful to others and he’s willing to accept constructive criticism. This alone is a great asset, and not many people display, also striving to become a better officer each and every day.”
According to Rengel, he made his assessment of Juan Estrella based on how he reacts to criticism and mistakes.
He also made note that the oral reprimands Juan Estrella received could have been removed after six months, but evidently they were not.
“Despite having a few Internal Affairs investigations, he was trying to improve,” Rengel said.
After he wouldn’t directly confirm to Yasmin Estrella that the report did mention anything about Juan Estrella being unable to perform supervisory responsibilities, she referred to his direct quote about influencing new officers.
Yasmin Estrella, reading from Rengel’s aforementioned report on Juan Estrella, said:
“As a senior officer, Estrella has demonstrated the necessary skill to mold the newer officers in the department,” to which Rengel said he does not consider that a supervisory trait.
Rengel did, however, agree with Yasmin Estrella that the performance evaluations should be considered in the promotion process, although he was unfamiliar with the specifics.
After a break for lunch, Yasmin Estrella continued her line of questioning with Rengel, which eventually devolved into constant sidebars over certain evidence related to the employee handbook.
At the end, some more back-and-forth occurred over if retired Sgt. Sergio DeRojas would be allowed to testify, Yasmin Estrella and her co-counsel, Ernest Ianetti, argued that it would demonstrate that former officer Estrella’s disciplinary history pales in comparison to others who were promoted over him, including DeRojas and Lt. Glenn Gaston.
Those officers were previously mentioned by Ianetti in an interview with HCV as unnamed examples of UCPD officers with worse disciplinary history than Estrella.
Specifically, DeRojas is alleged to have sexually assaulted a UCPD 9-1-1 dispatcher who later settled for $100,000 instead of advancing a lawsuit and Gaston, who was injured off the job, but claimed it occurred on-duty to collect benefits from Union City.
While both officers received significant suspensions, they were both eventually promoted over Juan Estrella, and neither of them were Dominican, Ianetti argued, and DeRojas – since retiring – is now the Public Safety Coordinator for the Union City Public Schools.
Ianetti and Yasmin Estrella also stipulated Juan Estrella could have been denied a promotion by not purchasing fundraising tickets or outwardly supporting state Senator (D-33)/Union City Mayor Stack.
While Yasmin Estrella questioned Rengel throughout Tuesday, it was Union City attorneys turns to examine the witness yesterday on Wednesday.
On the topic of the performance evaluation, they argued that the passing “acceptable” on former officer Estrella’s evaluation was just barely that and within the department guidelines.
After Rengel, Internal Affairs Sgt. Jeorgie Ives took the stand, who defendant attorneys Corey Depasy and Phillip Morrow had discuss the disciplinary infractions received by Juan Estrella.
While Depasy and Morrow additionally used Ives to point to performance notices about Juan Estrella as proof of his alleged subpar performance as an officer, his attorneys countered they are not discipline and were being used to skew perception of Juan Estrella.
Today, DeRojas will likely take the stand as the trial- likely to take months at this rate- enters its fourth day.
The trial effectively began on Monday, with both sides giving opening statements at the Brennan Courthouse in Jersey City before Judge Kalimah Ahmad, as only HCV reported.
On behalf of Union City, Mayor Brian Stack, the Union City Police Department, and former Police Chief Nichelle Luster, Corey Repasy and Philip Morrow – attorneys for Calcagni and Kanefsky LLP – argued that the New Jersey Civil Service Commission provides the “Rule of Three.”
This means that municipalities, in this case police departments, don’t have to promote the number one candidate for the job, which was at the time, Estrella– his counsel argued– but from the top three candidates.
They also contended that Estrella was not promoted only due to the instances he was disciplined or would not follow departmental rules, never anything to due with his ethnicity– which there is no documented proof of.
According to a pre-trial information report, Stack and company deny the allegations and instead maintain that the plaintiff Estrella was not promoted because of his “lengthy disciplinary record” with issues they claim persisted across his 15 years in the department.
They therefore argue that he was not suited for the supervisory responsibilities required of police sergeants, meanwhile, Estrella’s attorneys began the jury trial by seeking to present evidence to the contrary.
Ianetti and Yasmin Estrella responded in an interview with HCV, contending that the “Rule of Three” doesn’t apply if the reason a candidate wasn’t selected for a promotion was due to their national origin.
