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Off-duty Jersey cop who admitted role in brawl at a Fenway pizza place will have charge dismissed if he's a good boy for two years

A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled today that if a New Jersey cop who started a fight at a Fenway Domino's that put a BC student into the hospital stays out of trouble for the next two years, the charges against him will be dismissed, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The ruling came today after Daniel Hunt agreed to plead guilty to assault and battery for his role in the incident, in which a BC student was smashed so hard in the face he had to have his jaw wired shut for three weeks and have metal plates permanently installed in his jaw and cheek.

Suffolk County prosecutors had asked Judge Rosalind Miller to find Hunt guilty. Miller instead continued Hunt's case without a finding for two years, which means the charge will be formally dismissed if he doesn't get in more trouble.

Miller did agree with prosecutors that Hunt - who in his sober life is a cop in Haddon Heights, NJ - be ordered to pay $2,618.67 towards the victim's expenses related to his injuries, stay away from the victim and take periodic alcohol and drug tests to ensure he remains alcohol and drug-free. She also ordered him to to perform 100 hours of community service.

The man charged with actually punching out the student, Ian Salerno, of Philadelphia, is scheduled for trial in February, the DA's office reports.

According to the DA's office, a drunken Hunt and some pals up from the Philadelphia area were in a Boylston Street bar on Jan. 19 for a night on the town, which might have ended around 2 a.m. due to the Commonwealth's bar laws, except they decided to extend the evening at a nearby Domino's:

In an altercation captured on the eatery’s security camera, an intoxicated Hunt approached the victim and initiated a verbal confrontation. Hunt then pushed the victim, leading to a physical altercation.

During the course of that altercation, another member of Hunt’s group punched the victim and knocked him to the ground, causing serious injuries to the victim’s jaw and face. The victim was transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he underwent surgery to treat his injuries.

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Comments

You'd think we'd hold cops to a higher standard than a drunken frat boy but I guess not. Someone that has taken an oath to uphold the laws of the country and protect the public shouldn't be let off so easily if they break the law and harm the public, even if they're outside their jurisdiction. Pro boxes can't get into bar fights without additional punishment, why not a cop? Kinda disgusting really.

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Someone please explain to me why a cop--charged with protecting the public--would get leniency??

A regular guy wouldn't have walked away from a public assault (especially with video evidence). Why the hell does this cop get to? Totally insane.

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He mouthed off to the student, then pushed him. Do you think that if the incident ended there this would have ended up in court?

The other defendant messed the BC kid up good. He’ll be getting a bit harsher a punishment (if he’s convicted). I do have to wonder if the cop’s cooperation in the second trial is a factor.

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This:

Someone please explain to me why a cop--charged with protecting the public--would get leniency??

is a damned good question. Just because the guy who started the drunken brawl with the BC student is a cop doesn't mean that he should get leniency. In fact, Daniel Hunt should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law; Inotherwords, he should be tried, charged with, and put into prison for assault and battery. If the BC student that Daniel Hunt, the cop, assaulted dies of his injuries, the cop should probably get life imprisonment for murder.

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Unless the cop was using his authority somehow to break the law (assulting someone on the job, using public records for personal gain, larceny of property he has access to, etc, etc) he is a citizen who gets the same protections under the law as everyone else.

I'd fire the guy though if I were his department. I probably wouldn't care if you (Mike S.) boss fired you if you did this though. That is the difference.

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Someone charged with serving and protecting the public who shows that he instead does the reverse and behaves like a common bully and physical danger to the public (even if he is off duty) SHOULD lose his job as a cop.

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We were talking about how he should be treated in the criminal justice system.

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Equal justice under law is a farce in the Commonwealth. We have titles of nobility and peerage for certain professions thanks to the same judges which won't take violent gang members seriously.

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is not only a farce here, but it's that way throughout the United States, as a lot of rather grisly incidents between cops and civilians, especially people of color, and/or poor people, strongly indicate.

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Why is this guy still allowed to be a cop?

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This:

Why is this guy still allowed to be a cop?

is also a goddamned good question. Maybe if prospective cops were screened before being allowed to serve on police forces, there wouldn't be so many problems with cops abusing their power.

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If they fired him when the incident happened. And he pleaded not guilty and was found not guilty, the cop might be able to sue the department/town/taxpayers for a lot of money.

This is the standard procedure for labor issues in cases like this for (what should be) obvious reasons.

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Police union contracts tend to give them a lot more protection here than most other union contracts, and that in turn is more protection than people without contracts have.

For most people, "you got into a fight in a bar, you're fired!" is at the discretion of the employer; at most we might be eligible for unemployment. In general, they can fire you for any stupid reason as long as they aren't doing so in a way that counts as illegal discrimination. "Arrested for assault" isn't a protected class--the problem would be if they fired black employees who'd been arrested but not white ones, or applied that policy only for employees over the age of 50.

There's a lot of stuff that is unreasonable and would be bad management but that the law doesn't care about--your employer could make a rule "anyone who doesn't wear a striped shirt on Tuesday is fired" as long as that applied to all employees. Yes, if they give a really odd "reason" like firing a truck driver for not liking mustard on his sandwich, a lawyer might think it's a cover for some illegal reason. But that wouldn't apply here: "not getting arrested for assault" would be a reasonable expectation in almost any job.

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(except in MA, civil service is the biggest protection, not the union). And only police contracts would have some sort of "conduct" section. Gas Workers, Water workers, DPW have higher standards for your municipal workers (fire is similar)

But this guy wouldn't even be in the news if he worked at Joe's Bar and Grill or State Street Bank, and is employment there wouldn't even be in question (from guys I know who have done much worse and have not been fired from these places).

Adam isn't including this part of the story if this guy worked at Gary's Sheet Metal Factory in Newark, NJ.

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This cop should be sent packing back to New Jersey, and forced to be tried, charged with assault and battery, and put in jail back there.

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He did the deed here, so this is where he's charged. How did you not know this?

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What I'm saying/asking is: Since the cop who assaulted and seriously injured the BC Student was from New Jersey, why was the New Jersey cop here in the first place?

I recognize that he was charged here because he committed the wrongdoing here in the Bay State, but again, one has to ask why the Jersey cop was here in the first place.

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maybe he was visiting someone? Is there some sort of "no Jersey residents" law that I don't know about?
No where does it say that he was acting as a New Jersey cop in Massachusetts. He was off duty.

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Because he lives in the southern part of New Jersey in the Philadelphia metro area and the local franchise of the National Basketball Association was playing the Boston franchise of the same association.

One can take an airplane, train, or bus between Philadelphia and Boston. Both are also linked via interstate highways, so there is the possibility that the defendant used a personal vehicle.

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".... and take periodic alcohol and drug tests to ensure he remains alcohol and drug-free."

I have a feeling this cretin will not stay alcohol free for 2 years ( if they actually test him ) Imagine this jackass working and interacting with the public SCARY !!

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The victim being Lindsay Lohan’s cousin probably didn’t help.

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Disgusting miscarriage of justice. That cop should be in jail.

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