CLARK — A former police officer has accused the township of making life more difficult, as “payback” for going public this year with his six-figure payoff for covering up the use of racial slurs used by the mayor and police chief.
Ex-police Lt. Antonio Manata filed an intent-to-sue in September against Clark, as first reported by NJ Advance Media.
This is six months after recordings were released of Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso, Clark Police Chief Pedro Matos, and internal affairs supervisor Sgt. Joseph Teston all using disturbing language, including the N-word and other offensive slurs.
Bonaccorso is heard in the audio posted to Youtube at the end of March by NJ.com, repeatedly referring to Black people as “spooks.”
Another segment of the audio clips — recorded between 2018 and 2019 — refers to lockers for police officers.
Bonaccorso says “As far as female cops well, I hope there is never any… but I can only take care while I’m here. They’re all f***ing disasters that I’ve seen.”
Despite calls for Bonaccorso to resign, he did not.
Matos and Teston have been on paid suspension since June 2020, when the Union County Prosecutor’s Office took over the town police force, to launch “a full inquiry into credible allegations of misconduct.”
Once the audio was released, Bonaccorso did apologize for using words that were “hurtful and insensitive,” continuing he was “embarrassed and ashamed to have spoken that way about a race of people. I have learned, and I have changed and it will...
You are reading the second issue of the Disinformation Monitor. It is published on a monthly basis and provides an overview of developments on the disinformation scenes on NATO’s eastern frontier....