TRENTON — City Police Officer Joseph Schiaretti and two aides are facing charges in connection with the death of an inmate at the city lockup who was found face-down in his cell on Sunday, police said.
Schiaretti is charged with tampering with public records and presenting false documents.
Aide
Jose Millan is also charged with tampering with public records and
presenting false documents, while aide Richard Reyes is charged with
tampering with public records.
Investigators are looking into whether the sergeant on duty had any role.
Detective
Manuel Montez of Internal Affairs investigated the death. A source said
the investigation hinged on whether police made required regular visits
to check on Howard’s condition.
The Mercer County medical examiner said Howard died of chronic liver failure due to cirrhosis of the liver.
Policy
dictates that police or aides check on inmates in the lockup every 30
minutes. There is surveillance footage from that cell that may verify
whether that happened.
The investigation is ongoing.
Police
found the lifeless body of inmate Kenneth Howard, 55, of Trenton at
approximately 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. He was brought in at 8:30 p.m. the
previous night.
Jose Millan, reached for comment last night, said he “got there late, but I can’t talk right now.”
Millan is the stepson of a cop, Jose Villanueva, who was a police aide in February 2007 when he rescued a drowning Rottweiler from the frozen Raritan Canal.
http://www.trentonian.com
No comments:
Post a Comment