Cop in Felix DeJesus missing person case should get back pay, benefits, NJ says
PATERSON — Dodi Zorrilla, the rookie Paterson cop involved in the Felix DeJesus disappearance case, should get 88 days’ back pay and benefits from the city, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission ordered Wednesday.
The state commission upheld an administrative judge’s decision to reduce Zorrilla’s unpaid suspension from 90 days to two days. But the order also said the city does not have to pay Zorrilla’s legal fees because the departmental charges against him were sustained and he was disciplined with the two-day suspension.
City officials did not respond to messages seeking their comment on the situation. Zorrilla’s lawyer welcomed the civil service decision.
What happened to Felix DeJesus?
Zorrilla and his police training officer, Jacob Feliciano, had taken an inebriated DeJesus into their custody after a disturbance at a Paterson bodega on Feb. 2, 2022, and held him handcuffed in the back of their patrol vehicle. The two cops turned off their body cameras before allegedly letting DeJesus go at his request at Westside Park near the Passaic River.
Investigators have said DeJesus ended up drinking with several people later that night near a fire they built along the river. DeJesus, who was 41 at the time, has been missing ever since then.
His family members have blamed the officers for his disappearance, asserting that the cops on the frigid night should have taken the drunken man to the hospital, a warming center, police headquarters or somewhere else he would have been safe and warm.
The DeJesus family has complained that the suspensions were too lenient and that the two officers should have been fired.
Feliciano never appealed his 90-day suspension. But Zorrilla did on the grounds that he had followed the guidance of his training officer during the incident. Feliciano had been working as a cop for less than a year at the time of the DeJesus encounter, and Zorrilla had graduated from the police academy weeks before the incident.
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What did Zorrilla's lawyer say?
Zorrilla’s lawyer, Pat Caserta, said the civil service order should set in motion the city’s processing of his client’s back pay. Caserta said the exact amount has not yet been determined. Zorrilla’s annual salary is $25,735.
“We’re pleased with the result and the fact that both the Civil Service Commission and the administrative law judge recognized that my client was a trainee and didn’t bear the bulk of the responsibility for the mistakes that took place,” Caserta said.
“It’s important to recognize that both officers were trying to help Mr. DeJesus,” the lawyer added, “and any suggestions that their actions led to his disappearance don’t recognize that he was seen later that evening with other people, as acknowledged by his family.”
Family members have said police questioned some of the people who had been drinking with DeJesus in the park after the officers dropped him off. But multiple sources familiar with the probe have said one of those individuals would not speak with the detectives without a lawyer.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Cop in Felix DeJesus case should get back pay, benefits
