God bless America, where else can you commit a crime, lead police on a chase through 6 towns and Then file a lawsuit of 17 million dollars because the officer shot at you? The crime here is the officer missed his target. I'm glad my tax dollars are going to be spent defending this lawsuit, on top of the money I spend for a home security system.

hey dick- i am also appalled that this criminal is allowed to sue.
however if the open fire was jusitfied why would they attempt to cover it up? seems to me the officers knew they did something wrong and tried to hide it.
Piserchia is a dirtbag criminal- i expect a sleezeball like that to attempt to sue. however i hold my officers to a much higher standard and they are not above the law.

rough few months for donovan- first her son is busted supplying HS student with drugs, shes in the process of wasting taxpayer money on lawsuits, now it seems she was also trying to cover this up for her beloved county police. think its time for someone to resign, keep a better eye on her son, and stop wasting the taxpayers money

I think the criminal obviously did wrong, but I don't see why the officers tried to cover up the shooting when it seems to be justified.

And we are keeping the County Cops why???????????? Get rid of them all

The officers tampered with the scene. From a legal perspective, this can throw out an otherwise legitimate arrest and destroy the public's trust in those that serve honorably.

The officers should face the law just like any other criminals.

I'm still not getting it. Let me start by saying there's no doubt being a police officer is dangerous and difficult, this incident proves that, but there's video of this chase with a criminal maniac behind the wheel and there is a weapon discharge, with nobody getting hit by the bullets. The cops get charged? I also am very suspect of the legal decision made here. Administrative turned criminal? How the heck does that happen? Who are the criminals? I read this that yes the cops screwed up, realized they screwed up, and mistakes were made to fix the screw up, no doubt, heat of the moment human mistake, but criminal charges after administrative charges were offered up first? What kind of due process is this?

Another problem that might arise from their actions and dishonesty is that every conviction involving either of them is now liable to need to be reviewed, with the possibility that some of these convictions might be overturned because of the potential tainting of evidence. Whatever the outcome, it will require many, many hours and expense. Seems like a defense attorney's wet dream...

i thought if you are foumd guilty of committing a felony, you cant profit from the crime? Find him guilty, he cant sue, no?

Another "black eye"

Monelli should be praised. Peserchia prosecuted. Backish and Roberts should be prosecuted and fired with loss of pension. Donovan should get the same treatment. Doctors, Lawyers, Law enforcement and politicians should be held to higher standards. The crimnals' lawsuit should get him a symbolic dollar.

I hope all of you making comments have more knowledge than just this biased article. I am not sure what "lying" the prosecutor is referring to. Officers Roberts completed and passed all 3 lie detector tests he was asked to take and there is no evidence which is why criminal charges charges were not filed 2 years ago. This is so politically motivated (Monelli is on his way out) that it's embarrassing.

Fire all the county cops? Every county cop is trained in another specialty (swat, k9, scuba, bomb squad). When a kid disappears or a burglar flees and there are no k9s to track them, then what? A suspicious package in a building? Lets just shake it since the only bomb squad in the county is gone.

Your kidding me right? this piece of garbage gets a thin dime then the system has failded all of us. first off those cops should not have even attempted to hide anything, aim at the torso next time and don't miss. I'm a usmc vet and i say. A slap on the wrist is all the two cops should get and some shooting lessons and then put them back on the job. then put this dirtbag in jail where he belongs.

Sad to see Officer Roberts in this situation (whether he is guilty or not) as I worked with him for 5 years in a youth athletic program and knew him to be a stand-up guy. I do feel for his wife and children.

Seems like the right decision to charge these fools criminally. EVERY arrest these two made are now susceptible to scrutiny as they clearly acted dishonestly here. How many other cases did they purposely manipulate evidence? Are people sitting in prison because these two officers lied or fabricated evidence? The only difference here is that they got caught!

Although it is disappointing to see a criminal file a lawsuit against the police, it seems like the lawsuit has some merit. If a criminal is fleeing in a car, the police shouldn't be shooting at him. They should only be firing their guns if somebody's life is in danger. Here, nobody's life was in danger and the officer was shooting at a criminal trying to flee. We can't just have officers shooting at suspects in a densely populated area. I know that I don't feel safe knowing officers are shooting their guns at whoever they want, especially when, as here, the officer clearly didn't have a good shot or he would have hit the criminal or at least the car. Somebody not involved is going to get shot accidentally. This isn't the wild west.

The county cannot transfer the duties of the bomb squad to the sheriff, only the FBI can certify bomb squads and technicians and they are currently reducing the amount of both. If the county police is disbanded, Freeholder Hermansen is correct, the county would be without a bomb squad and would have to rely on already stretched squads like Passaic county or state police. There would be no dedicated squad for Bergen because the FBI is not certifying new squads. People need to do their homework before spouting off.

These cops are being hung out to dry by a politically motivated and vindictive prosecutor. How come there has been no talk of his trip to Italy with 3 convicted felons, Oury, Coniglio and Ferierro? Or the whistleblower from the AG's office accusing the former chief of detectives of associating with members of organized crime? Or the prosecutor's detectives that destroyed physical evidence and received a slap on the wrist? Pot calling the kettle black.

No one can dispute that a police officer shouldn't tamper or falsify info. I question the Prosecutor's heavy handed approach and the immediate arrests on the eve of the resolution for referendum to disband/transfer. It is no secret that the Prosecutor's office has vocalized that it wants to disband the County Police.

I have grave reservations for the following reasons: You are transferring specialized details that are to be commanded by an elected official - Sheriff- where there is no requirement that he be a law enforcement officer. Anyone can run for Sheriff and if successful will be heading up and overseeing all these specialized details. The current Sheriff (while at least a trained LEO) ran Emerson police before taking over as Sheriff, how many officers in Emerson? Under 25 men. Secondly, the Sheriff has a percentage of non civil service positions that are allotted to him wherein he employs anyone he sees fit, cronies, etc to fill. All his undersheriffs collect significant State Pensions and 100K salaries. Thirdly, the Sheriff ran for election on a platform that he would not seek a merger so he is less than truthful when it suits him. Finally, I have yet to read how much in net savings such a merger would be. You can't just take the County budget as gross savings since you are now increasing the Sheriff's budget. I guarantee that it will increase significantly since the County Police worked more efficiently per man.

Happens all the time, they just got caught. Although not all cover up to improve their arrest record.

I don't see the prosecutor in a rush to find out why that big bald sheriff's guy who hangs out with the sheriff pulled a gun at a bar. Oh that's right, we don't want to make the sheriff look bad so let's cover it up

Hey Joan,

The State????? Hahahahahah who is going to investigate the state? its like the fox guarding the hens

I lost all faith in the county police when I received two traffic summons in the mail. It was a county sergeant who swore up in down in court that I was driving the car that cut him off while he was on his way to work (that's why they were mailed to me). I had to go to court to fight these charges because I wasn't even in the state at the time it took place I was 1400 miles away on business. I had airline receipts, car rental receipts, dinner receipts, even a letter from my company. The officer, prosecutor and even the judge said all my evidence was inadmissible in court. I would have to subpoena the airline, Car Company and all others as witnesses. Long story short his Id of the vehicle was the wrong color I brought photos of my car as well as evidence so I won the case. It still burns me up to this day how they tried to pin this on me and I had to prove my innocence when they should have had to prove my guilty as far as they were concerned I was guilty as soon as I walked into court. The officer lied under oath the prosecutor proceeded with a case that he knew was false and the judge went along with it I wonder how many other people have been railroaded over stupid cases like this so they can fill quotas and receive revenue for the county. They should do away with BCPD this just goes to show what a pack of liars they are and will do anything to keep the money flowing it. It’s sickening.

How much money did Hudson County save when they got rid of their pd