A Red Bank patrolman will lose his job but won’t face jail time after pleading guilty to assault and falsifying police records, the Asbury Park Press is reporting.
Officer Steven Adams, 28, was indicted in October by a Monmouth County Grand Jury on aggravated assault and other alleged crimes arising from the arrest of a Middletown man following the borough’s 2006 Kaboom Fireworks show.
The five-year veteran pleaded guilty yesterday to two disorderly persons charges before Superior Court Judge Ira Kreitzman, who is scheduled to sentence Adams on Feb. 8, the Press reports.
From the article:
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office told the court it will not seek jail time for Adams. Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said the court had already ordered Adams to forfeit his job and that he “is forever disqualified from holding any future public office in the State of New Jersey.”
Disorderly persons offenses are punishable by a maximum of six months in jail and a fine, offcials said.
More:
The charges stem from his handling of a prisoner, Jonathan Wilson of Middletown, on July 4, 2006.
Wilson had been arrested as a disorderly person by other Red Bank officers and left in Adams’ custody, the prosecutor’s office said. During his guilty plea, Adams told Kreitzman that as he was removing Wilson from his patrol car he
pushed the handcuffed man forward. Wilson then fell face first on to the pavement, receiving injuries to his teeth and chin, the prosecutor’s office said.Adams told the judge that he “misrepresented” some of what happened in that parking lot when he wrote his police report on the matter.
“We place great trust in our police officers to serve the public in an honorable fashion,” Valentin said. “Adams abused that trust by his unlawful and egregious conduct. He then compounded his unlawful conduct by falsifying his official
police report.”Adams’ attorney, Mitchell Ansell, said he and his client were satisfied with the plea agreement.
“Steve had always maintained and still maintains that he is not guilty of the second degree official misconduct and aggravated assault charges,” Ansell said. “We believe these new charges and this plea more accurately reflect what happened that night. Steve is looking forward to putting this behind him and getting on with his life.”
The initial Press account makes no mention of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Wilson against Adams, the borough and Police Chief Mark Fitzgerald. In it, Wilson gives a different account of what happened, including who arrested him and where his injuries occurred.
Here’s what redbankgreen reported about that suit in October:
In it, Wilson claims that he was standing in a parking lot behind the Globe restaurant at about 11:30 on the night of the fireworks when police arrived to quell one of several disturbances reported that night. Ordered to disperse with other bystanders, Wilson claimed he was walking down Broad Street with a female companion a few minutes later when Adams drove up in a black car, pulled Wilson’s arms behind his back and pushed him face first into the asphalt, breaking four teeth and causing facial lacerations.
At the police station in borough hall, Wilson claimed, he was “pushed, shoved and cursed by numerous other police officers.” There’s no mention of the borough hall parking lot in Wilson’s complaint. Download WilsonvRB.pdf
Several hours later, the suit alleges, police took Wilson to Bayshore Community Hospital for treatment. When he asked to be taken back to police headquarters to file a complaint, Wilson says he was told by unnamed officers that the police there would “kick his ass” if he returned. Instead, they released him on his own recognizance.
Elsewhere in court papers, Wilson’s attorneys have raised the suggestion that Adams mistook Wilson for another suspect, who is named in the documents and who is said to have kicked in the window of a police car during a scuffle that night.
In July, over objection’s by Wilson’s lawyer, U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper terminated Wilson’s lawsuit on the grounds that the charges against him should first be adjudicated before the suit could proceed. Download wilson_opinion_70907.pdf
The Star-Ledger identifies Adams as a resident of Beachwood, in Ocean County.
WHAT A SHAME FROM WHAT A HEARD HE WAS A GREAT COP, THE KIND THE UPSTANDING WESTSIDE RESIDENTS LIKE. ITS A SHAME HE WILL NOT WORK THERE ANY LONGER, AND FOR WHAT SOME PUNK. THIS WORLD IS AN EVERLASTING LET DOWN. GOOD LUCK ADAMS WITH WHATEVER YOU CHOSE TO DO WITH THIS LIFE, I'M SURE YOU WILL DO AMAZING.
"Great cops" don't beat the crap out of innocent people. And - surprise, West Side Pro - they're not really even supposed to do that to guilty people. That's what we have the court and prison system for.
This kid gets his teeth knocked out in a case of mistaken identity, and now has to endure being branded as a "punk" (oops, I meant "PUNK") by some anonymous semi-literate person who didn't bother to read the whole story.
This world, indeed. Exactly what kind of cops do you like over there on the west side?
He bashed someone's teeth in, lied about it, and it wasn't even the correct suspect. This is what the Westside needs?!? God help us.
Thug with a badge
he was a good cop. first off how do you know the guy was innocent most likey 1 of the hundreds of dirtbags that come to red bank on 3rd of july and on weekend nights that talk shit to the red bank cops and desearve a beat down.
READ THE STORY?!?!?!?!?! I HAVE EXCELLENT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SITUATION AND KNOW ADAMS PERSONALLY. REALITY CHECK - YOU ARE JUST ANOTHER RED BANK GREEN COWARD, HIDING BEHIND YOUR COMPUTER. YOU KNOW WHATS ITS LIKE TO WALK IN A POLICE OFFICERS SHOES, PROBABLY NOT, I CANT EVEN IMAGINE THE DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY IT TAKES TO DEAL WITH IGNORANT PEOPLE LIKE YOU. STEVE ADAMS FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!
So, let me understand this: a cop who is guilty of (at least) assault and falsifying police records is a "good" cop. Imagine what the "bad" cops must be. Boy, am I out of touch.
Good cops use the minimal amount of force needed to get the job done. They also know they can not demand respect at the end of a night stick so they ignore the morons who "talk sh-t to them" untill the morons actually break the law.
Luis Valentin, the Monmouth County Prosecutor, gave away the store when he approved this plea bargain for former Red Bank Police Officer Steven Adams.
Because Adams was only convicted of two disorderly persons offenses, he remains a non-felon, thus retaining his gun ownership / gun possession rights. Moreover, and assuming that Adams doesn't break the law for the next few years, he will be able to file an expungement petition five years after he completes his sentence (e.g., pays the fines imposed and/or completes any probation). Once that expungement petition is granted, the only record that the general public will be able to find regarding this whole incident will be found in various press and Internet accounts. After the expungement, any criminal background checks will show that Adams has "No Record." After the expungement, Adams will even be legally permitted to state (even under oath) that he was never arrested or convicted of a crime.
Thanks for nothing, Valentin.
OK, "red bank" (if that's your real name). I'll reconsider my opinion if you can share your execellent information.
I must be missing something. Adams pleaded guilty to assault and falsifying records. You're defending the officer and calling Wilson a punk and a liar. I'm just asking that you back up your statements with some facts, or at least some convincing opinions.
What's the common thread? That's right, both the criminal and the victim are out-of-towners. We need to close off our town from people outside.
Another factor? Overcrowding. That Kaboom! thing results in so much overcrowding that the whole downtown is closed to traffic. If not for the overcrowding, this whole incident wouldn't have happened.
And I didn't see any out-of-towners at the West Side Community meeting. They're 70% of the problem and not even 10% are interested in helping.
If we just built a wall around our town, we could keep all these undesirable outsiders out.
The fact is Adams was a good cop until this incident. If the drunken bum from out of town had drank responsibly and not started fighting and become disorderly perhaps this never would have happened. According to the news accounts he couldn't even remember where he was hurt let alone by whom.The investigation system worked and determined the young cop made bad decisions leading to a guilty pleaand a loss of a career. Case closed! Let the other cops take notice and make the right decisions going forward!
I am willing to lay odds that just before he entered his plea and lost his job, 28 year-old suspended Patrolman Scott Adams made an application for a disability pension & lifetime health benefits. Just before the axe falls, it seems like every fired cop in New Jersey suddenly recalls some minor work-related injury that they sustained years ago but which — surprise, surprise — suddenly renders them now no longer fit to perform police work.
why is every man in jersey short and napoleonic most be the landfill they live on don't come to my mound of trash and watch fire works antisocial retards. watch over philadelphians trash for me. when i was younger me and two friends beat the shit out of 12 dudes from jersey and they started with us one of the snuck me i had to school them and send them back to there trash pile
What is going on with this web site this weekend?????? Is it tech problems?