Paterson cop Kevin Patino ready to plead guilty in excessive force case
PATERSON — Police Officer Kevin Patino has agreed to plead guilty in federal authorities’ case accusing him of using excessive force in a video-recorded incident in South Paterson in 2020, court records show.
But the court records do not provide details on the impending deal, such as what crime Patino will admit that he committed and whether he will go to prison as part of the plea.
“The terms of the plea agreement are not public until a guilty plea is actually entered,” the United States Attorney’s Office said in response to an inquiry from Paterson Press.
Plea agreement hearing
Patino’s plea agreement hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday in federal court in Newark, but the session has been postponed until Feb. 8. Patino’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, court records say Patino’s partner, Kendry Tineo-Restituyo, who also was charged in the incident, plans to go to trial to fight the accusations against him.
“We are waiting for our trial to be scheduled,” said Tineo-Restituyo’s lawyer, Pat Caserta.
The incident involving the two cops and their alleged victim, Osamah Alsaidi, came to light only after the Council on American-Islamic Relations began circulating video recordings of what happened to the 19-year-old two months afterward.
The video showed that Patino inflicted the first blow against Alsaidi, then repeatedly struck the teenager in the face and body, and continued to hit him when he was on the ground. Tineo-Restituyo joined in the tussle, the video showed.
Alsaidi has said he reported the alleged attack to the Paterson Police Department’s Internal Affairs division, which he said did nothing about his complaint.
On the same day in April 2021 that the FBI filed charges accusing the two cops of assault and filing false reports, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office announced that Paterson’s IA operation would be overseen by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, an intervention that lasted for about 17 months.
Patino and Tineo-Restituyo have been on paid administrative leave since May 2021. Payroll records show both officers’ salaries are $61,185. The two cops continued to get contractual pay increases while on leave for the pending criminal charges. At the time they were first accused, their salaries were $49,117, city records show.
More: What’s next for Paterson after Spencer Finch's acquittal on excessive force charges?
Lawsuits remain pending
Alsaidi has a pending lawsuit against the city, Patino, and Tineo-Restituyo stemming from the incident.
Patino and Tineo-Restituyo also are accused of using excessive force in civil cases involving two separate incidents in which they were not together.
Garfield resident Desyiah Leak has claimed Tineo-Restituyo punched her in the face during a traffic stop in Paterson on Dec. 6, 2020, and Rosdward Hernandez of Paterson accused Patino of beating him when he tried to intervene on behalf of an emotionally disturbed person on Main Street on Nov. 26, 2020.
Hernandez’s lawyer, Chris Fitzgerald, said Patino’s impending guilty plea in the criminal case provides the latest evidence of the widespread misconduct that had been taking place in the Paterson Police Department.
“At the very least, it confirms that this kind of behavior went on for years,” Fitzgerald said. “To claim otherwise doesn’t take into account the facts and reality of that department.”
Federal authorities have not filed any criminal charges against Patino and Tineo-Restituyo in connection with the Leak and Hernandez incidents.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ cop Kevin Patino to plead guilty in excessive force case
