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The Bloomfield Four: (clockwise from top left) Officers Gerald Filippone, Frank Furfaro, Richard Chiarello, and Vincent DeFabrizio
On March 14, 2004, all charges against the “Bloomfield Four” — police officers from Bloomfield, New Jersey — were dismissed. Superior Court Judge Paul Vickness ruled that the police action of subduing garment factory worker Santiago Villanueva did not cause the man’s death.
“The Bloomfield Four” — Officers Gerald Filippone, 34, Frank Furfaro, 39, Vincent DeFabrizio, 46, and Richard Chiarello, 45, (see photographs) — had been charged with reckless manslaughter in the death of Villanueva, who suffered an epileptic seizure at the Quick Cut factory on April 16, 2002.
Responding to a 911 call, Officers Filippone and Furfaro, both trained emergency medical technicians, arrived at the factory in an ambulance. Officers DeFabrizio and Chiarello followed in a police car. The four policemen found Santiago Villanueva flailing about uncontrollably, repeatedly hitting his head and shoulders on the cement floor. The combative 250-pound, six-foot native of the Dominican Republic was being held down by two fellow employees.
Villanueva, 35, was in the factory working area within inches of machine equipment which had blades and sharp cutting edges. The officers subdued him for his own protection, administered oxygen, and transported him in a fully equipped ambulance to Columbus Hospital in Newark.
His heart rate upon arrival at the hospital was 138. Tragically, Villanueva died 47 minutes later as he was being treated in the Emergency Room.
Villanueva’s sudden death caused an uproar in the community. Because he was black, wore dreadlocks, and spoke only Spanish, the media and protest groups claimed that the white officers harmed him deliberately.
Protests — both pro and con the police — were held outside the Bloomfield Police Department. Chief of Police Jack McNiff and the black and Hispanic police associations fully supported the actions of the officers. Lawrence Monaco, a career Essex County assistant prosecutor, who initially headed the investigation, concluded that no crime was committed. However, the Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, Albio Spires, called for the State Attorney General to conduct an investigation.
“All four of these men went there to help Mr. Villanueva and, unfortunately, [found] themselves in a criminal court for what they did,” said Anthony Iacullo, the attorney for Officer Filippone. The attorney for Officer DeFabrizio said Mr. Villanueva’s death should never have been viewed in racial terms.
Michael Ruggiero, President of the local Policemen’s Benevolent Association, commented that the decision was correct and proper and that the indictment was an unjust “political interference with our judicial system.”
LELDF contributed funds for legal costs and expert witnesses and is very pleased with the results.
