A woman who used to work as an officer at the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center in Morristown NJ has avoided prison time for striking a teenager.
The suspect is a 32-year-old female who resides in Newark, New Jersey. She was working at the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center when she reportedly got into a verbal altercation with one of the teenagers at the facility in November 2016.
According to the suspect, the teen spit at her. This reportedly prompted the suspect to violently assault the victim, which included punching and kicking the girl. Moreover, at the time of the attack, the victim was handcuffed and lying on the ground.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office conducted an investigation into the incident and determined that “there was no justifiable need for force to be used” against the minor victim. As a result, the suspect was placed under arrest and charged with simple assault.
The suspect eventually reached a plea deal with Morris County prosecutors. She was subsequently sentenced to one year of probation and officially barred from securing a job with NJ law enforcement going forward. However, the suspect’s plea deal will not prevent her from jobs in the NJ public sector that are not related to law enforcement.
Minors who are convicted of juvenile crimes in Morris County NJ are often sent to the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center in Morristown. Law enforcement has not disclosed what kind of juvenile offense the victim may have committed in order to be sent to the facility.
For further information about this case, view the NJ.com article, “No Jail for Juvenile Detention Officer Who Hit Handcuffed Teen, Report Says.”
