FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — A police officer in Little Silver has
been sentenced to five years in prison after his conviction on official
misconduct and assault charges in the beating of a man.
Forty-year-old Steven Solari was sentenced Thursday in
Superior Court in Freehold.
Prosecutors say Solari went to check on the man at the
request of the man's mother in 2009 but ended up arresting him following a
scuffle. Prosecutors say Solari took the man to police headquarters for booking
instead of to a hospital. Prosecutors also said Solari punched the handcuffed
man and tried to cover up what happened.
The Asbury Park press reports (http://on.app.com/1ovkDNX )
that Solari has been ordered to give up his $91,000-a-year job with the Little
Silver police, where he has been on the force since 1999.