Paterson activist on police advisory group involved in bar assault

Joe Malinconico
·3 min read

PATERSON — Ernest Rucker, a community activist and member of the Paterson Police Department’s advisory council, was involved in an assault late Friday night at the Elks Club bar on Ellison Street.

Rucker, who is in his 60s, told Paterson Press he was defending himself against a Rochelle Park man who was threatening to sexually assault him at the bar. Rucker said the man later jumped him outside his home, knocked him unconscious, and kicked him while he was on the ground, breaking two of his ribs.

The man filed a complaint with Paterson police on Saturday afternoon accusing Rucker of bashing a glass bottle against his face after the man said he intervened in a dispute between Rucker and a woman at the Elks’ bar.

Story continues below photo gallery

The man told police Rucker hit him twice in the head with the bottle, according to the incident report.

The man told police he subsequently followed Rucker when he realized he had suffered multiple lacerations on his face and that the two of them had a second fight away from the bar, according to the incident report. The man said he went to the hospital to get treated for his injuries.

Paterson police detectives are investigating the incident. As of Monday afternoon, authorities made no announcement on whether the detectives had filed any charges against anyone involved in the incident.

Allegedly made sexual threats against Rucker

Antwan Wilson, a “loyal knight” of the Paterson Elks, said he has spoken to several people who were at the bar on Friday night and said their accounts support Rucker’s version of the events. Wilson said he was not at the club that night.

Wilson said people told him the Rochelle Park man made sexual threats against Rucker. Wilson said the man has caused similar problems at the bar in the past, but that the organization has not been successful in its efforts to ban him from the premises.

Ernest Rucker, a community activist and member of the Paterson Police Department’s advisory council, was involved in an assault late Friday night at the Elks Club bar on Ellison Street.
Ernest Rucker, a community activist and member of the Paterson Police Department’s advisory council, was involved in an assault late Friday night at the Elks Club bar on Ellison Street.

David Gilmore, another Paterson activist and the city’s community improvements director, said he was at the Elks on Friday night when the incident took place. Gilmore said he was at the other end of the bar and did not see the initial assault.

Gilmore told Paterson Press he then gave Rucker, a friend of his, a ride home to Van Houten Street. As the two men walked to the door of Rucker’s apartment building, the combatant from the bar jumped Rucker, Gilmore said.

“He came out of nowhere,” Gilmore said, describing the second incident. “I was able to pull him off.”

Rucker plans to file a complaint

Rucker told Paterson Press that he plans to file a complaint against the Rochelle Park man. But he said he couldn’t do so over the weekend because of the pain from his broken ribs. Rucker said he also went to the hospital to be treated for his injuries.

It remains unclear what impact — if any — the incident will have on Rucker’s role on the police advisory committee. Rucker had been a strong critic of the Paterson police department for many years. But he has praised the department — and its community outreach efforts — after the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office seized control of police headquarters in March 2023.

On July 10, Rucker was among the community activists who sat on the front dais during a police department-sponsored community listening session at School 2. Rucker sat alongside six high-ranking members of the police department and two other activists — Corey Teague and Teddie Martinez.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson activist on police advisory group in bar assault