Hammonton Police Officer's Unwarranted Excessive Force On Elderly Man

On Saturday August 9, 2008 at approximately 3:00 PM, at the intersection of Route 206 and Route 30, a minor accident occurred and a Hammonton Police officer used excessive force on an elderly man. In my opinion, this was a total disgrace to the Hammonton Police Department. An elderly man rear ended another car due to what appeared to be some confusion when a Police SUV was trying to cross the intersection. When the accident occurred, the Police officer responded and started yelling at the elderly man, and within 10-15 seconds of getting out of his Police SUV, he started to arrest the elderly man throwing him against his car and then immediately to the ground. The Police officer was not threatened in any way at all by the elderly man, and there was no reason at all for this to happen. Now, the elderly man is down and cuffed on Route 206 not moving with the Police officer's foot on him. The elderly man's wife, who is about 80 years old, now gets out of the car extremely upset and is screaming at the officer what are you doing. The scene was a terrible embarrassment to the Hammonton Police Department.

The Police officer acted like a pure bully. I guess this made the Police officer feel like a man, but in reality, he should be ashamed of himself and the Hammonton Police Department should be disgusted by his actions because I am sure this is not common practice in Hammonton. Police officers are hired to protect the public, which includes helping people. The officer should absolutely be fired for his inappropriate actions.

Very Concerned Citizen wrote:

On Saturday August 9, 2008 at approximately 3:00 PM, at the intersection of Route 206 and Route 30, a minor accident occurred and a Hammonton Police officer used excessive force on an elderly man. In my opinion, this was a total disgrace to the Hammonton Police Department. An elderly man rear ended another car due to what appeared to be some confusion when a Police SUV was trying to cross the intersection. When the accident occurred, the Police officer responded and started yelling at the elderly man, and within 10-15 seconds of getting out of his Police SUV, he started to arrest the elderly man throwing him against his car and then immediately to the ground. The Police officer was not threatened in any way at all by the elderly man, and there was no reason at all for this to happen. Now, the elderly man is down and cuffed on Route 206 not moving with the Police officer's foot on him. The elderly man's wife, who is about 80 years old, now gets out of the car extremely upset and is screaming at the officer what are you doing. The scene was a terrible embarrassment to the Hammonton Police Department.
The Police officer acted like a pure bully. I guess this made the Police officer feel like a man, but in reality, he should be ashamed of himself and the Hammonton Police Department should be disgusted by his actions because I am sure this is not common practice in Hammonton. Police officers are hired to protect the public, which includes helping people. The officer should absolutely be fired for his inappropriate actions.

There has been a lot of pressure the last few months by Hammonton's Town Council to have the police give more traffic tickets putting cops under a lot of pressure. It's very well known that the Town Council is out to get the police chief and replace the town police with the state police.

No amount of pressure from the Town Council would merit the unprofessional and ignornant behavior of this police officer.
I can see why the town council wants to replace their police with the State Police.

Former Hammontonian wrote:

No amount of pressure from the Town Council would merit the unprofessional and ignornant behavior of this police officer.
I can see why the town council wants to replace their police with the State Police.

I am also a former resident...I was born and raised in Hammonton and lived there for over 50 years. This is nothing new. I'll bet if this older gentelman was a related to a member of the "force" or had "conections" this would have never happened. Some years back a woman ran a stop sign, totaled my adult son's pick up truck.
She never got a ticket and they breifly put my son in cuffs for no reason. She was driving while suspended. Guess who she was related to. Nobody threw her to the ground. That town is another planet! The State Police would fix all of it! Then maybe a few "former" cops would find out what pressure really is and realize they're not above the law.

It's all about who you're related to or how close you are to some politician. They don't consider you to be a true resident unless you have the right last name.

i believe that there are a couple town cops that need to go due to their attitude. some of the higher officers know who i am talking about

I agree, throw them out and let state police take over.

I try to follow the town happenings through the web and i go back to town once in a while to visit family. What the heck has happened to Hammonton? The town was always who you know, see that has not changed but the crime,i read grew to 29%?!! I do know some of the officers for many years but maybe the state police should take over or maybe there needs to be more hirings to keep up with the growth which brings crime. I do still think Hammonotn is a good family town but maybe i have been gone for too long.

What do you think they do to blacks and minorities and have been doinh in Hammpmton for that past 60 years

I'm embarrassed to discuss about Hammonton at work. In Hammonton we have 3 political parties. Democrats are nearly extinct in Hammonton. There are two Republican parties in town fighting for dominance. One party wants to replace the police force with the state police and want to get rid of residents who live close to downtown so that they can buy out their properties and develop a historic and cultural zone. There's millions to be made via grants for the very wealthy to displace not only low income residents but the average blue collar worker who pays property taxes.

well how about ex officer timmy ruggeri >? up until two years ago, he used his badge for close to twenty years to drink and drive and escape dui tickets, the blue wall stands firm as their own breaks the laws day in and day out, they turn a blind eye, but let anyone else do it, and bam they get busted. I am not saying it is ok to drive drunk, but what is fair for one, should be fair for all, but not in the corupt little evil town of Hammonton, so I say FTP , good for you if you can figure it out, I'll give a hint, the last word is Police

Yo, there's a reason why Hammonton is the Italian Capital of the U.S. Your either one of us or your NOT. This is our town. We built this town. While other towns are crumbling we've had NO TAX INCREASES FOR 4 straight years. Why because we Italians know how to get stuff done. Get OUTTA here if you don't like us. Don't knock on our police. We support our Chief and his department 100%!

lol don't knock our corrupt police force, yea what ever, with a exception of a select few that Police dept really should be replaced by the State Police. I am Italian and I too know how to get stuff done, and the first logical thing was to get out of that evil little corrupt town. BTW Hammonton is the Blueberry capital of the world, not the Italian capital you bumbling moron...YO

The butcher gets a discount on meet. The employee at Starbucks gets free coffee,and so on. I'm sure everyone of you gets something for free at work. Thats life. Lay off the Boys in Blue, they risk their lives everyday.

Since I didn't actually SEE the incident that was the catalyst for this thread, I can't comment, specifically ~ but, in general, I come from a long line of law enforcement people in my family [none local]..and understand the dedication/sacrifice/danger/ri sks...etc... that being a police officer/detective/etc...entail s. Most cops wear the badge/uniform with honor and dignity and serve their communities admirably and without blemish. Especially in today's "unstable environment" where people pull out guns/weapons at the drop of a hat and injure/kill others without thinking--I CAN TELL YOU, I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE A LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSON! All I can say is that "if" you see a police officer acting unprofessional or outside of the boundaries of his/her assigned duties--REPORT HIM/HER (get their badge #- if possible - or the number on their police vehicle, or jot down the location/time/date of the incident that you witnessed, etc..) MOST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES DO *NOT* WANT A NEGATIVE LIGHT ON THEIR DEPARTMENT, EITHER ~ AND YOU'LL ATLEAST KNOW YOU DID YOUR PART IN REPORTING POSSIBLE CIVIL INJUSTICE. On the other hand, when you DO come across a police person doing his/her job, remember you might not know ALL the circumstances and the exact situation they are dealing with...and thank your lucky stars that there ARE men/women out there who put on the uniform/badge to protect us and keep peace/order in our communities.

Pro-Police wrote:

The butcher gets a discount on meet. The employee at Starbucks gets free coffee,and so on. I'm sure everyone of you gets something for free at work. Thats life. Lay off the Boys in Blue, they risk their lives everyday.

So your saying it's ok for police officers to turn a blind eye when others they work with are breaking the law ??? The chose to do it for a living, nobody twisted their arm, Many professions risk their lives everyday, what makes the Police so special ? I personally think Firefighters have it tougher, and don't get half as much credit, and many even do that for free !

LOL Frank S H I T

They got the hard working lawn cutting boy!!! LOL!