Belleville paid to settle a suit claiming the officers beat a man at his home.
A dispute on getting his daughter’s boyfriend out of his house turned violent for Nicholas Quartuccio Sr.
It was the night of Sept. 2, 2010 when police were called to his home in Belleville Township. He told the officers he wanted the boyfriend out of the house, but his daughter and granddaughter could stay.
But what followed was an alleged beating and a lawsuit that the township paid $ 90,000 to settle last year. Records of the settlement were posted on a blog run by John Paff, an open records advocate.
Quartuccio, then 61, died in a house fire in 2015, so the settlement was paid to his estate, the records show.
At the house, officers asked more questions, and according to a lawsuit, kept saying “wrong answer” when Quartuccio insisted that the situation was under control.
The officers then “hit [Quartuccio] on the back of his head and slammed him to the ground,” the suit says. The suit also says they kicked, punched and were “jumping and pummeling him and hitting him in the head.”
Quartuccio later pleaded guilty to simple assault and a disorderly persons offense after spending a week in jail. He brought the suit against the township, its police department, the police chief and Officers Matthew Dox, John Andino, Anthony Abate, Joseph Werner, Charles Mollineux, William Knoth and Franchino Pigantaro.
As a condition of the settlement, the parties are barred from speaking publicly about the case.
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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