Posted on 11/25/2013 5:50:19 AM PST by IbJensen
The Atlantic City, New Jersey police department appears to have a very bad apple in their force.
Officer Sterling Wheaten has been the subject of two lawsuits in the past month, at least eight lawsuits in the last three years, and, according to an attorney in one of those lawsuits, 21 internal-affairs complaints from 2008 to 2011. None of those complaints were sustained.
Perhaps the most notable case of extreme brutality inflicted by Wheaten is one that occurred last June and involved the beating of college student David Connor Castellani.
Castellani was kicked out of a casino for being underage. Surveillance video shows four Atlantic City officers talking to him. They searched his pockets and let him go.
Castellani started to walk away and pulled out his cell phone to call a friend. As his parents later explained, his friend drove them to the casino that night and was Castellani’s ride home. After the phone call ended, he returned to the group of police officers and appeared to be asking them a question. Castellani’s parents said he was asking if he could return to his friend’s car, which was parked on casino property. The security camera footage shows Castellani walking away from the officers, but it appears that he and the group of cops continued shouting back and forth to each other.
What happened next is disturbing. The security camera video shows the four officers chase and tackle Castellani. They forced him to the ground and beat him relentlessly. One officer pulled out a baton, which he used to beat Castellani on his back.
As if it wasn’t brutal enough to have four officers beat one 20-year-old man, another officer arrived on the scene and unleashed a K9.
Five officers and a dog to deal with ONE man.
Castellani received over 200 stitches from the incident.
The most recent lawsuit against Officer Sterling Wheaten was filed by Janine Costantino, who claims Wheaten assaulted her at Caesar’s Casino last year. She says Wheaten arrested her brother after he got into an altercation with another customer:
“Wheaten had my brother in a headlock and his arms were limp and his legs were weak. I screamed out that it was police brutality and that I was videotaping it all.”
Constantino said that’s when Wheaten came after her:
“He was running at me and he says, ‘Give me the phone you b**h.’ He grabbed my bun and he was slamming my forehead into the floor.”
Wheaten arrested Constantino, but the charges against her were dropped. She said another officer told her, “Oh, that’s your first mistake. You shouldn’t be videotaping police officers.”
According to Constantino’s lawsuit:
Wheaten continued to force his knee into her back while attempting to review the footage on the phone. He then allegedly threw the phone against a wall, but it ricocheted back and was retrieved by Costantino. At that point, Wheaten began to beat her again and, again, she relinquished the phone.
Wheaten stood up and handed the phone to a smaller man in a plaid shirt and said, “you got this?”, To which the man in the plaid shirt said in sum and substance, “yah, I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.” The man, unidentified in the suit, allegedly put the phone in his pocket and walked away. The phone was never recovered after the arrest.
Later, while Costantino was being processed, the suit alleges Wheaten returned to tell her that her phone had been “taken care of” and that she would go to jail with the other “animals.”
According to the suit, Costantino sustained bruising, lacerations and a sprained arm over the course of the incident, but her requests for medical attention were denied. (source)
Jennifer Bonjean, the attorney who is representing Castellani, Costantino, and others who are suing Wheaten, told NBC:
“I get calls every day from people who have been brutalized and terrorized by the Atlantic City Police Department. It’s overwhelming the pattern that I’ve been able to establish just with these limited cases I’ve been involved in. I think the prosecutor’s office is turning a blind eye to many of these allegations. They have to be seeing the same police officers that we’re seeing.”
Bonjean said she believes departmental policy and a lack of oversight has created a culture that’s permissive of police misconduct in Atlantic City:
“It’s statistically not credible that every civilian who comes into the Atlantic City Police Department is lying. To me, the numbers speak for themselves. The burden (of proof) is high, but it’s not that high.”
One Atlantic City police officer came forward to report the misconduct he witnessed in the department (including the K9 attack on Castellani). The result? He received a death threat.
Increased scrutiny of the Atlantic City police department has led to the city looking into the use of body cameras, which mount on the officer and record activity.
Police Chief Ernest Jubilee said that in-car cameras have exonerated officers accused of brutality. He said the cameras provide evidence and watch over the officers:
“Not that I think the officers need to be watched, but it takes the responsibility to the citizens to a different level. It presents the public with an added level of confidence.”
Maybe most of the officers don’t need to be watched, but it seems reasonable to strap a camera on Officer Wheaten as soon as possible. Or better yet, relieve him of his duty and toss him in jail for assault.
Welcome to Obamaworld!
This might be an indication that Atlantic City casinos are dangerous places and that if citizens want to save some money and avoid being assaulted by thugs with badges they ought to stay away.
Perhaps if the business community were to begin to suffer the obese, pompous governor and friend of Obumba might be moved by economic necessity to put some of the gambling house cops behind bars.
That Cop must be on the Gov’s protection detail.
Welcome to the New World Order where you WILL comply.
At some point, policeman like this will catch a bullet or a baseball bat to the back of the head, while sitting in his cruiser or more likely taking out his garbage one evening.
Make it personal enough, assault is very personal, and people will start seeking their own justice when denied it within the system.
If this A-hole attacked a person’s family and then hid behind his badge, why shouldn’t he expect personal retribution?
Make a long story short, a child hood friend of mine’s son was murdered in a nearby Atlantic City Hotel. The original report was suicide or accidental overdose. The drug used was a concoction of several drugs and it was injected. The police call it a drug overdose. My friend, who was suspicious at the start do to inconsistencies, hired a private detective who later determined his son was tortured for his ATM card #, then left to die. He went to the justice department who forced the case open again. It’s been 3 years since, they have photos of the prostitutes using the card, and photos of the murderer from an ATM machine. They know his name and he is a pimp for several of the girls, but he’s disappeared now and somewhere in either Florida or New Orleans working his trade. The case was reopened and still pending. The investigator is the same one that determined it was overdose or suicide — despite the evidence of torture, including rope burns and burn marks from a spoon. But no rope or needle or spoon was found at the scene.
Why shouldn't some of the politicians who are destroying this country, along with their enablers in the media, expect personal retribution?
Settlements for police brutality need to come directly out of their pension fund instead of from the taxpayers. Then they will have an incentive to police their own.
Thanks for sharing this horrendous miscarriage of justice!
Well, there goes any chance of Atlantic City seeing MY money.
The Atlantic City police department is so corrupt, that they were taken over by the State Troopers under the order of Christie about 3 years back.
One of the 95% that give the other 5% a bad name. He was just stupid enough (or didn’t care enough) for some of the fallout to land on him, and from the article why should he care? There are obviously no personal consequences to him.
Ba but that’s not the way it happens on TV with them being dedicated, conscientious and competent. That’s a shame about your friend and his son. There are probably victims all over that only get a token investigation unless they are connected, especially in the corrupt cities.
I have my phone set up with Dropbox. Within about 30 seconds after taking a picture or video the file has been transferred to my PC. Assuming the phone hasn’t been destroyed.
Atlantic City is in which state?
And its corrupt?
Shocking!
"Permissive" seems to be an insufficient adjective.
Eventually, small very discreet groups of citizens will start visiting these types in the middle of the night and cutting off their thumbs. Perfect justice.
thumbs? probably something else would be appropriate as well.
“........21 internal-affairs complaints from 2008 to 2011. None of those complaints were sustained.”
Police policing their own.....anyone surprised by this result?
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