WOODBRIDGE — Members of a Colonia family claim that a police officer beat up one of their two sons when a parking-ticket incident apparently turned ugly.
About 10:40 p.m. Jan. 30, Thomas Calero, 21, was parked outside his parents’ home in their car, waiting to give his brother and his friend a ride to work, Calero said. When Patrolman Emil P. Jagiello discovered that the car was parked improperly, he issued a ticket to Calero, who said he directed an expletive to the officer under his breath while walking back to his car
According to four witnesses, Jagiello then charged Calero, threw him up against his car, handcuffed him, beat him profusely to the head and ribs, and threw him to the ground onto his stomach. Vinnie Carelo, 19, said Jagiello then kicked his brother, straddled his back and continued to punch the side of his face, back of his head and ribs with his fists and elbows.
Jagiello’s partner, Sean P. Grogan, called for backup, mother Caroline Calero said. Jagiello ceased the striking when five other police cars arrived, she said.
“This cop was in such rage, it looked like he wanted to kill my son,” Caroline Calero said. “My son always has been very respectful to police, but he was just very agitated for getting the ticket in front of his house. Still, there was no reason for the police officer to do what he did. He could have said don’t talk like that and given him another ticket. He didn’t have to take it to that extreme.
“My son is small in stature,” she continued. “He’s only 5-foot-4. The cop must have been over 6 feet.”
Vinnie Calero and his friend, Brandon Gentenny, 20, corroborated the details of the incident. They said another friend also witnessed the scene.
“My brother was taking me to work at FedEx to go onto the night shift,” Vinnie Calero said. “I had to go back into the house to grab my cellphone, which I left in the house. My brother was parked on the side but didn’t pull into the driveway. The cops pulled up, turned their lights on and said we can’t be parked there. As we came out of the house, he said, ‘Don’t get into the car. I’m searching you. He throws me against the car, searches me and searches my friend, Brandon.
“My brother was a little pissed off now,” he continued. “Talking to himself, he says this is ‘f-ing’ ridiculous. The cop said, ‘There is no need to curse. Give me your license, now you’re getting a ticket for disorderly conduct.’ So he gives my brother the ticket. My brother turns his back, walks away, and says, ‘This is f-ing ridiculous.’ And the cop says, ‘Now you’re arrested.’
“He puts the cuffs on my brother, who is not resisting at all, and starts to punch him in the face. He cuffed him already. My brother wasn’t resisting. The only reason my brother started moving was because he was getting punched in the face.
“So the cop throws him against my dad’s car and then slams my brother on the floor, kicking him in the face and elbowing him in the head while he’s handcuffed. His partner is telling him, ‘Get off. You’re doing too much.’ He was just punching my brother in the face. His partner was saying, ‘That’s not necessary. You don’t need to do that.’ ”
Calero said he blacked out during the incident. He was arrested, charged with annoyance to the neighborhood and resisting arrest, released and told he will be mailed a court date.
His parents then took him to JFK Medical Center in Edison, where he was treated for cuts to the back of his head and contusions and abrasions to the forehead, face, neck, elbow, ribs and knees, his mother said.
Jagiello did not return a phone call requesting comment. Grogan was unavailable for comment. Mayor John McCormac also declined to comment.
The Police Department received a complaint involving allegations of police misconduct, which is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Unit and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, township spokesman John Hagerty said.
The Prosecutor’s Office said it could not confirm or deny the existence of the investigation, but township Police Director Robert Hubner confirmed that the Internal Affairs complaint was filed with the Prosecutor’s Office and is being investigated.
“We’ll wait to see what they have if there’s anything to it,” Hubner said. “We’ll let the investigation take its course.”
A copy of the incident report of the arrest was not provided because, according to Hagerty, it is part of the prosecutor’s investigation. It will become available once the investigation is over, he said.
Calero will be represented in the criminal case by township-based attorney John Perrone, who also is representing another young Woodbridge man who Perrone said allegedly was beaten by township police officers.
“You want to be respectful to a police officer all the time, but he was walking away,” Perrone said of Calero. “Whatever he said — and I’m not saying he did use a derogatory word — you don’t jump on the kid and start beating him for that. The kid was walking away.”
“This really has changed the way I look at police officers,” Caroline Calero said.
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