Several Hoboken police officers are accused of engaging in the physical and sexual assault of a woman back in 2018, with one officer allegedly having an improper relationship with her afterwards, a lawsuit says – claims being reviewed by the county prosecutor’s office.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The suit, filed in Hudson County Superior Court on August 20th, contends that Angelica De La Torre was walking in the area of 1201 Grant St. on September 25, 2018 when she got into a verbal conflict with Police Sgt. William Collins.
That conflict allegedly escalated with Collins taking her phone and smashing it, with a handful of other officers arriving and “physically and sexually assaulting” her, the complaint, which was first reported by Real Garden State, says.
The suit states that her shirt was pulled up and her breasts were groped before she was slammed against a car and stomped while she was on the ground.
The other officers named in the complaint are Officers Frank Lombardo, Jr. Harold Milne, William Truppner, and Anthony Fesken, along with John Does 1-2.
After undisclosed charges were filed against De La Torre in connection to the 2018 incident, the suit says that Truppner found her on social media and asked for her phone number in order to “help” her with her case.
She met with Truppner and stayed in contact with him during the last quarter of 2018, alleging he engaged in “inappropriate activities” and a romantic relationship with her before the case against her was dropped in July 2019.
The five-count legal filing says De La Torre was a victim of assault and battery, negligence, unlawful discrimination, abuse of process and wrongful discrimination of law, and civil conspiracy.
Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante told HCV he first learned of this case on Friday afternoon and, as a result, immediately opened an Internal Affairs Investigation, which has since been forwarded to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
“There were no complaints made to our Internal Affairs, our detectives, nor the Hudson County Prosecutor’s [Office] in the past two years regarding this case. These are serious allegations and they will be thoroughly investigated,” Ferrante added.
