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Politics & Government

Hispanic Hoboken Cops Announce $2M Settlement With City

The five Hoboken police officers filed their racial harassment lawsuit in October 2007.

The five Hispanic Hoboken police officers who filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court alleging racial harrassment and a hostile work environment in October 2007 announced on Tuesday afternoon at the Hilton hotel by Newark Penn Station that they had accepted a $2 million settlement.

The award will be divided between Sgt. Edwin Pantoja, Det. Mario Novo, Det. Cesar Olivarria, Det. James Perez and retired Det. George Fonseca; all of the officers are still active on the Hoboken police force except for Fonseca. Each individual award will amount to somewhere in the $200,000s, according to their attorney, Joseph Ginarte.

The lawsuit named the city of Hoboken, former Mayor David Roberts and Lt. Angelo Andriani of the Hoboken Police Department — who was suspended without pay in 2010 — as defendants and alleged that the five officers were subjected to racial slurs and racially motivated mistreatment. (According to NJ.com, the lawsuit accused Andriani, commander of the now-defunct SWAT team of which all of the officers except for Sgt. Pantoja were members, of using the n-word and putting a napkin over his face to imitate a Ku Klux Klan member. Andriani was also the center of a 2007 scandal when SWAT team members were photographed with scantily-clad Hooters waitresses holding their guns during trips south that were organized for Hurricane Katrina relief.)

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According to Ginarte, administrative charges were brought against the four former SWAT team members in response to their lawsuit; the charges have been dropped as part of the settlement, he said. (Mayor Dawn Zimmer said that she can't comment on personnel matters.)

"I never thought in my life, three and a half years ago, that I'd be sitting here in this building suing other police officers," said Sgt. Pantoja, a 22-year veteran of the department, who also noted that the work environment has improved since "the people we had issues with are no longer there. (In addition to Lt. Andriani being suspended, Ginarte observed that former Police Chief Carmen LaBruno had retired.)

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Pantoja recalled reporting to work the day after the lawsuit was filed in October 2007, when fellow police officers steered clear of him.

"I felt like we had leprosy or something," he said.

Ginarte said that the final court filings were completed on Friday to finalize the settlement.

"Two million dollars is a lot of money, especially in this economy, but this case was never about money," he said.

According to Mayor Zimmer, the city is on the hook for $400,000, but insurance companies are paying the remaining 80 percent of the settlement.

"For me, [the decision to settle] was coming from a policy standpoint, but also from a financial perspective," she said, noting that the insurers were stipulating that the city settle before covering their portion of the pay-out.

Mayor Zimmer also noted that civil rights training has become mandatory for all city employees under her administration.

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