TRENTON — A federal jury has awarded an Irvington man $55,000 in damages after finding a State Police trooper violated his civil rights by using excessive force against him four years ago.

Allen Bass, 50, sued Trooper Gerald Dellagicoma and others in 2009, claiming they punched and kicked him multiple times, causing him to urinate on himself, after he complied with their commands to get off his bicycle at Ellis Avenue and Clinton Avenue in Irvington a year earlier.

Bass was charged with various drug offenses that were later dismissed.

After a two-week civil trial, a federal jury Tuesday found Dellagicoma intentionally and maliciously violated Bass’ Fourth Amendment right not to be subjected to excessive force. The jury awarded $45,000 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages.

“The jury’s verdict was a vindication for Mr. Bass,” said Raymond Hamlin, who tried the case along with his partner, Kenyatta Stewart. The state Attorney General’s Office, which oversees the State Police and represents the division in court, said the verdict was under review.

Hamlin said Bass is African-American and believed he was targeted because of his race, but the issue was not raised at trial because there was no way to prove the allegation. Dellagicoma has been accused of racial profiling and excessive force in another pending federal lawsuit.

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The jury in the Bass case found no merit to the allegations that Dellagicoma arrested him without probable cause and subjected him to a malicious prosecution. The jury also found no wrongdoing by the other troopers involved, Christopher Mills and Miguel Holguin.

According to Bass' lawsuit, he was riding his bike July 10, 2008, in Irvington when Dellagicoma and other troopers who were on patrol in the area got out of their patrol cars and ordered him to stop. Bass claimed he laid on the ground chest-down and spread his arms and legs.

Troopers allegedly then punched and kicked him before arresting him. Bass was charged with drug possession, resisting arrest by flight and resisting arrest by force, court documents show. The charges were dismissed in May 2009 because the troopers failed to appear in court, Hamlin said.

Court documents show Dellagicoma, who joined the force in 2001, failed to activate his patrol car camera and was suspended without pay for 30 days, but only served 15 days of that suspension. Records show Dellagicoma was reprimanded several times prior to the incident for the same infraction.

Since the racial profiling scandal, troopers have been required to record all traffic stops. The videos are often critical to proving allegations of wrongdoing, as well as protecting troopers from false public complaints. But not activating a camera is considered by the State Police to be a minor infraction punishable by a written reprimand and a suspension of only a few days.

In another federal civil lawsuit, Salah Williams of Newark, an African-American, claims he was a victim of racial profiling, excessive force and malicious prosecution when Dellagicoma allegedly assaulted, maced, arrested and charged him for no reason while walking near his store in the city.

The racial profiling claim was dismissed in May for a lack of evidence, but the other allegations are pending. Similar to the Bass case, Dellagicoma also failed to activate his patrol car camera and appear in court, resulting in the dismissal of the charges against Williams.

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