A New Jersey police sergeant has been charged with stealing $10,000 worth of cameras and other equipment from a photojournalist who had been injured covering tense protests outside a Newark immigration jail.
Darryl Brown, a sergeant in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, was caught with the missing items after the photojournalist used a geo-tracking device to trace her missing gear to his home, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.
The journalist, Angelina Katsanis, was on assignment for The Associated Press at Delaney Hall on Saturday night when she was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a clash between police and demonstrators.
As she hobbled to a medical tent to seek attention, Katsanis left behind her gear bag, which was marked with her name and contact information. When she was eventually allowed to return to the area — now in a wheelchair — the bag was gone.
“I checked my Airtag and the bag was already on a highway pretty far away at that point,” Katsanis recalled. “Right away, I had a feeling it was the police."
As Katsanis sought treatment in a nearby hospital, the Airtag pinged to a home in Sparta, New Jersey, which was listed as belonging to Brown, according to the attorney general's office. The device was later recovered on the side of a road, miles away from the home where it was initially taken.
A subsequent review of Brown’s body camera footage showed him “interacting” with the bag at the protest location, according to the attorney general's office. A search warrant executed at his home Wednesday turned up several of the missing items, some bearing Katsanis’ name and phone number, the complaint said.
Information for Brown's attorney was not immediately available. A message left at a phone number listed for Brown was not immediately returned. He faces charges of third-degree theft. He has been suspended without pay, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Katsanis, who has training in covering hostile environments, said the incident had left her deeply shaken.
“I’ve thought a lot about how the officers are supposed to be there to uphold the law and protect us and protect property — and this is the exact opposite of that,” she said.
The detention center has become a flashpoint for protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with frequent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
Those demonstrations intensified in recent weeks as advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility. The federal government has denied allegations of substandard conditions and accused protesters of inflaming tensions.
Katsanis said she suffered swelling and bruising on her leg but did not break any bones.
