A New Jersey police chief accused of making derogatory comments about the nation’s first Sikh attorney general and the state’s first Asian-American county prosecutor will resign, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Monday.
Fanwood Police Chief Richard Trigo told the prosecutor’s office and city council on Friday night that he would resign on Monday, according to the statement.
Wheat’s attorney Joshua McMahon told NBC News on Monday that the boss did not resign or resign.
“Any statement to the contrary is categorical and demonstrably false,” said McMahon. “Chief Wheat had previously begun the process to retire on September 1, 2020 and, up until that time, he chose to take a permit to handle a family-related health problem.”
On July 4, an audio recording was posted on YouTube in which Trigo allegedly says former Union County Acting Prosecutor Grace Park “is doing pretty well” and that “she had plenty.” He also allegedly calls it “Chinese”. Park was the first Asian-American county prosecutor in New Jersey and the first minority woman to head the prosecutor’s office in Union County. Park is a member of the Council of Korean Americans.
Wheat also refers to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, the nation’s first Sikh state attorney general, as “that guy in a turban” and says, “I want to pull him like a top.”
It is unclear where the alleged audio comes from. The user who posted the video, Fanwood Exposed, could not be contacted as there was no option to send a message to his YouTube account. It is not clear who is connected to the account.
Acting Union County District Attorney Lyndsay Ruotolo said in a statement Wednesday that his office has opened an investigation into the recording and that Wheat needs to “resign immediately” or disciplinary action must be taken to remove him from the office if authenticated. .
In a statement Friday, Trigo’s lawyer said the recordings were “rigged and spliced.” McMahon declined to comment Monday when asked if he or Wheat disputes that the voice on the recording is of Wheat.
“Chief Trigo, the first Spanish police chief in Fanwood’s history, denies making inappropriate comments,” McMahon said in a statement. “These altered recordings have undoubtedly been manipulated and put together by people upset with the reform and progress that the Fanwood Police Department has made under the leadership of Chief Wheat, including the Chief personally hiring and promoting more minorities than any Chief in history from Fanwood. “
McMahon also said Friday that Trigo “remains committed to the community and brings people together, as he has for nearly three decades.” McMahon said he was confident that Ruotolo “will meet the long-standing standards of his office and will not comment on or prejudge the merits of any ongoing investigations, which the chief appreciates.”
Grewal condemned the comments last week, saying that if Wheat brought them before other law enforcement officials, “they should have yelled and reported on the speaker’s obvious misogyny and racism. Because when an officer behaves this way, It tarnishes the reputation and good work of the vast majority of officers who know that this conduct has no place in law enforcement or in our society. “
“If the comments on the recording were, in fact, made by Chief Wheat, this is one more reason why we need to continue to build a culture of accountability in the police in New Jersey,” Grewal said in a statement. “Clearly, others were in the room when these comments were made by a law enforcement officer, and they did nothing.”
Sharon Lauchaire, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, declined to comment Monday on Wheat’s resignation.
Wheat did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ruotolo said Monday that his office exercised his impersonation authority to temporarily oversee the operations of the Fanwood Police Department.
Captain Kevin Grimmer and Detective Nicholas Falcicchio, both from the prosecutor’s office, will take over the daily operations of the police force starting Monday while searching for a new chief.
