NJ cop was hired even after stabbing wife's ex-lover 4 times

ATLANTIC CITY - At age 19, Franco Sydnor was convicted of stabbing his wife's ex-lover four times.

A few years later, he was hired to be an Atlantic City cop anyway.

In the next two decades, Sydnor, a city detective, has been accused of sexual assault, physical assault, domestic violence and even throwing a handcuffed man into a wishing well, according to details revealed in a federal court hearing this week.

In nearly every incident, the city's police leadership found no cause to remove Sydnor from the force and he was never charged with a crime while on the force. The city allowed him to continue to work special details at the casinos, earning extra money.

However, a civil rights lawyer told U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Simandle on Monday that the allegations show a pattern: the city allows rogue cops to remain on the force, eventually harming people.

Jennifer Bonjean is representing Anthony Moore, a Pennsylvanian man suing Sydnor and the city for what he claims is excessive police force that left him with major head injuries.

Last month, a federal jury in an unrelated excessive force case found the city liable for violating the constitutional rights of Steven Stader, who was mauled by a police dog during his 2013 arrest. The city was ordered it to pay $300,000 in damages to the victim.

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In the current case, Bonjean is pursuing the same strategy and seeking more damages from the city.

Sydnor, 41, has been on the force since 2003. His salary is $106,652.

In his lawsuit, Moore — who was intoxicated and attending his brother's bachelor party — claims Sydnor struck him repeatedly in the head and torso with a baton and kneed him in the ribs while he was being thrown out of Bally’s Casino in October 2012. The incident, which can be seen in the video at the top of this story, was caught on casino surveillance cameras.

Sydnor was on special detail at the casino that night.

Moore is suing the city police department for being “deliberately indifferent” to the need to train, supervise and discipline its officers, citing a "sham" internal affairs system that allowed Sydnor to continue to escalate his violent behavior while on the force, according to the complaint.

Sydnor claims that he didn't intentionally strike Moore with the baton, but said his injuries were accidental and caused by a baton "grazing" his head.

Steven Glickman, Sydnor's attorney, said Wednesday that the department hasn't sustained any excessive force charges against the officer.

"Everything has to be put into context," Glickman said. "The altercation between the plaintiff and Officer Sydnor occurred after he was assaulted from behind by the plaintiff's brother."

Glickman said the plaintiff's expert in his report said Moore approached Sydnor at least two or three times and that he could have been arrested any one of those times.

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Court documents filed by Bonjean shows the Atlantic City knew about Sydnor's criminal history prior to hiring him as a police officer. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon after a 1996 incident during which he stabbed a man — his wife's "ex-husband or boyfriend," according to court documents — four times in the stomach, chest and back, according to the documents.

In a separate incident, Sydnor was charged in 2002 with making terroristic threats after threatening to kill his lover's husband, but the charges were dismissed. Emails intercepted by the woman's husband said Sydnor threatened to kill him "anytime" and that perhaps the newspaper would report that his body was found with his head cut off, according to court documents Bonjean filed.

He was also arrested on charges of assault, criminal mischief and aggravated assault, but wasn't convicted, according to court documents.

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Although Sydnor's criminal history may not have disqualified him from being hired as a police officer, the nature of his history should have "put the department on high alert that this rookie should be monitored extra closely," Bonjean wrote in response to a motion to exclude his internal affairs records from the trial.

Glickman, Sydnor's attorney, wants his records excluded from the trial. Judge Simandle heard arguments from both sides on Monday and hasn't yet made a final ruling.

Bonjean is also seeking to use six internal affairs investigations to show the jury Sydnor has a pattern of using force against intoxicated casino patrons and later minimizing his behavior by claiming it was unintentional or accidental.

"What ends up happening, almost invariably, is that Sydnor becomes provocative and taunts — which we see over and over again — and that escalates into a use of force that's avoidable and excessive," Bonjean said in court.

Internal affairs records are strictly off-limits to the public in New Jersey and only become available when bits and pieces come out during legal proceedings.

An Asbury Park Press investigation this year into police misconduct found that although the state guidelines on internal affairs procedures are thorough, the policies lack teeth and oversight, contributing to a system that often turns a blind eye to bad behavior.

Bonjean told Judge Simandle on Monday that video evidence in at least three Sydnor's prior incidents will show Sydnor mischaracterized his actions to authorities. Medical evidence, internal affairs investigation narratives and photos will show the same in the other three cases, she said.

In a 2006 incident, Sydnor was on a special casino detail when he was asked by Borgata security to escort a drunken, disorderly man — who wasn't under arrest — off the property, Bonjean said when describing the incidents to the judge during oral arguments.

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Sydnor later told internal affairs investigators that he guided the man into his police car "like an old lady," but the investigator's narrative of surveillance video said he grabbed the complainant by the shirt and threw him in head first, Bonjean said.

The narrative, an excerpt of which is in court documents, says Sydnor grabbed the man by the seat of his pants and the back of his shirt — his body in the air parallel to the ground — and tried to throw him in the car feet first, but his feet hit the door and closed it.

According to the excerpt, Sydnor spun the man around and tried to throw him in head first, but some part of his body hit the police car, causing the man to fall to the ground. He's picked up a second time and forced into the car, where he was purportedly taken to a bus station.

About 15 minutes later, the complainant was found unconscious in the parking lot of an Applebee's with a head wound. He was intoxicated and didn't have a recollection of what happened, so there was no finding against Sydnor for that, Bonjean told the judge.

The investigator recommended four sustained findings for the incident: standard of conduct for the "unprofessional" and unnecessary manner in which he forced the man into the car, performance of duty for using excessive force, conduct toward the public because he was neither courteous nor orderly when he threw the man into the car and being untruthful about the way he described putting the man in the car, according to court documents.

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Sydnor was disciplined by the department for one sustained finding of failing to follow procedures for the incident, Bonjean told the judge. The nature of his punishment wasn't available.

In a 2008 incident at an outlet store, a woman accused of shoplifting said she fell to the ground after Sydnor "palmed" her in the face, Bonjean said during her argument. Sydnor said he used his feet to sweep her to the ground because she was resisting, but video evidence shows she was "palmed" and was not resisting.

In a 2012 incident, a complainant claimed Sydnor bear hugged him and slammed him to the ground. Video evidence shows that was the case, but Sydnor told investigators that it was the complainant who bear hugged and slammed him to the ground, Bonjean said in court.

A lieutenant at the time asked him if he distorted or misrepresented evidence, and Sydnor said no. Bonjean didn't say whether there was an internal affairs finding against Sydnor, but there was a civil lawsuit that was settled.

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Atlantic City is also seeking to prevent more internal affairs records from being released. Both parties agreed anything marked "confidential" in the early stages of the lawsuit would be subject to discussion before being filed on the docket, which makes them publicly available.

If the parties can't come to an agreement, the judge would temporarily seal the documents, hear arguments for and against sealing the records and then rule.

Attorney Morrison Fairbairn is representing the city and police department.

"I’ve spent more hours than I can count going through thousands of pages of internal affairs files for Atlantic City police officers and Officer Sydnor's files are among the most disturbing," said Ashley Cohen, another one of Moore's attorneys. "It's disheartening that the police department lets a guy like him run rogue without any consequences."

Other internal affairs complaints against Sydnor, according to court documents, include:

In 2007, a fellow officer accused Sydnor of sexually assaulting her by grabbing her upper thigh near her groin. The country prosecutor's office did not indict or conduct its own investigation. Internal affairs files show the victim told the prosecutor's office she didn't want to pursue the investigation, but during her deposition, she testified that she didn't recall saying that. The internal affairs complaint wasn't sustained.

In 2006, a woman claims Sydnor followed her into her home and was forced to perform oral sex on him. Even after the internal affairs investigator determined the complaint and the corroborating witness were credible, the department gave him a one-day suspension for "being outside of his district."

A man claims Sydnor punched him in the face, handcuffed him, kicked him in the nose and threw him in a wishing well in 2014. Sydnor denied injuring the man.

A family member claims Sydnor assaulted her in the face and head with his fist during a family dispute.

A casino patron claims he was beaten and maced by Sydnor after being wrongly accused of stabbing another patron in the Brass Rail Lounge.

The father of Sydnor's stepchildren filed multiple criminal and internal affairs complaints against Sydnor. In August 1996, he accused Sydnor of stabbing him four times with a knife.

The trial will be heard in two phases: the first is for claims against Sydnor, and if the jury finds him responsible, the case against the city will proceed with the same jury. It's set to start on May 14 in U.S. District Court in Camden.

Kala Kachmar: @NewsQuip; 732-749-2238; kkachmar@gannettnj.com.