TRENTON, N.J. (AP) 鈥 New Jersey's top law enforcement official overstepped his authority last year when he took control of the police force in Paterson, the state's third-largest city, soon after police there fatally shot a man barricaded in an apartment bathroom, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The New Jersey Appellate Division said Attorney General Matt Platkin had no authority to 鈥渟upersede,鈥 or take over, Paterson's police force in March 2023 after the .
The court Platkin to return control of the police department to city officials and return Police Chief Engelbert Ribeiro to the city from a police training commission.
鈥淒oes the AG have the authority to directly supersede all operations of a municipal police department without the consent of the municipality?" the court asked. 鈥淲e conclude the answer is no.鈥
The ruling was put on hold pending appeal, and Platkin vowed to take the case to the state Supreme Court.
鈥淲e are deeply disappointed with today鈥檚 ruling,鈥 he said in a statement. 鈥淲e are enormously proud of the extraordinary progress the Paterson Police Department has made and we remain deeply committed to Paterson and to the crucial work of making the City safer for all its people.鈥
The case provides a window into several crosscurrents involving policing, including how Platkin, a Democrat, . The court's decision also comes as the Biden administration puts other departments under a microscope, including Trenton's, of misconduct.
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, a fellow Democrat, criticized Platkin's takeover and was part of the lawsuit that prevailed on Wednesday.
鈥淭his is a victory for democracy,鈥 Sayegh said in a text message. 鈥淲hat Matt Platkin did was unlawful and undemocratic. He disenfranchised Paterson voters to advance his own electoral ambitions.鈥
The takeover stemmed from a 鈥渃risis of confidence鈥 in police in the city, Platkin said last year. Platkin's action came just weeks after Seabrooks' death, though he said no single case led to the takeover.
Police were called to Seabrooks鈥 brother鈥檚 apartment, where he had been holed up in the bathroom. Seabrooks, who was a crisis intervention worker and mentor with the nonprofit Paterson Healing Collective, had called 911 at least seven times and told dispatchers that people were threatening him and he needed immediate help.
Police talked to him through the door, offering to get him water and calling him 鈥渓ove鈥 in one instance. But the tension increased when he told police he was armed with a 鈥減ocket rocket鈥 gun and a knife. Police shot Seabrooks when he emerged from the bathroom with a knife, according to the attorney general鈥檚 office.
Since the takeover, Platkin placed Isa Abbassi, a 25-year veteran of the New York Police Department, in charge of the department.
Platkin's office said crime in Paterson has diminished since the takeover.
Some activists praised the takeover, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which called it a 鈥渨elcome step鈥 because of what it said was the department's history of violent policing. On Wednesday, the group said in a post on X that the court decision threatens to 鈥渆rode one of the most important tools for police accountability in our state.鈥
Democratic Assemblymember Benjie Wimberly, who represents the city, said he backed Platkin's appeal.
鈥淭his setback is deeply troubling, especially after nearly two years of concerted efforts and significant investments aimed at strengthening our police department and protecting the people of Paterson,鈥 Wimberly said in a statement.
Paterson has a population of about 160,000 and sits about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Manhattan. Its demographics shifted since the middle of the last century when most residents were white. Today, Black residents account for nearly 24% and Hispanics for just over 60% of the population.
As Paterson鈥檚 Black population grew, it found itself repeatedly clashing with the city鈥檚 white power structure, particularly its police force. Platkin that he wouldn't blame residents for being distrustful of the police.
In the mid-1960s, Paterson was the site of civil unrest between police and Black residents. Paterson was also the inspiration for the 1975 Bob Dylan song 鈥淗urricane,鈥 about the boxer Rubin 鈥淗urricane鈥 Carter, a Black man who was convicted by an all-white jury in 1967 of killing three white people at a city bar. A federal judge later threw out the conviction, writing that it had been 鈥減redicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason.鈥
Since the start of 2019, city police fatally shot four people; two others, , have died after being restrained.
The appeals court's ruling leaves in place Platkin's takeover of the police department's internal affairs unit 鈥 the group charged with investigating the department itself in certain cases. City officials did not challenge the attorney general's takeover of that part of the department.
