A New Jersey State Trooper who punched a handcuffed woman in the face after she spat at him two years ago has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault — and now he’ll never be a cop in the Garden State ever again, officials said.
At a plea hearing in Cumberland County last Thursday, Nicolas J. Hogan, 28, of Gibbstown, New Jersey, admitted to the September 2022 attack, which happened while he and other troopers were waiting for medical professionals to come and evaluate the inebriated, distraught woman.
As part of his plea, Hogan agreed to a consent order barring him from holding office or public employment for the rest of his life, according to a statement from state Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
Prosecutors will also recommend Hogan to serve probation, as long as he serves up to a year in county jail, the AG said.
“Law enforcement officers face difficult circumstances and put their lives on the line every day,” Platkin said. “But they must exercise discretion when they need to use force. The defendant in this case inexcusably crossed the line, and he has been held accountable for his conduct.”
The incident sprung from an early-morning encounter in which Hogan and other troopers responded to a call about a trespasser at a home in Upper Deerfield Township at about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2022.
Cops found the alleged vagrant — who had been described by the caller — walking down the middle of a nearby road, Platkin said.
She seemed drunk, so officers called medics as well as backup. Hogan was one of those who arrived on-scene afterward.
But as the cops tried to deal with her, the unidentified woman grew more and more distraught, the statement said.
She allegedly began weeping and arguing with the cops, asking them why she was being held.
The cops handcuffed her when she tried to walk away, and put in her in the backseat of a police cruiser — while she spit fluid and mucus on the ground, remnants of her emotional breakdown, according to the allegations.
The woman — who had not been arrested — kept asking for a tissue but no one gave her one, according to the allegations.
Then she appeared to spit at one of the troopers standing near the open car door, Platkin said.
Hogan opened another door to warn her not to do that, saying, “If you f—king spit on a trooper …” — just as the woman turned and spat directly at him.
That’s when Hogan hit the handcuffed woman, his metal flashlight still in-hand.
The move was inexcusable, officials said.
“Law enforcement officers often interact with people having the worst day of their lives,” Drew Skinner, head of the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said in the press release.
“But they cannot allow themselves to be provoked into using force that does not serve a legitimate public safety interest,” he continued.
“When officers unnecessarily and illegally harm a member of the public, they deteriorate the public’s fragile trust, and they will face consequences.”
