Widow of Police Shooting Victim to Sue Police Department

Dante Cespedes’ widow is filing a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit against Belleville’s police department, according to a Star-Ledger report.

Cespedes was shot two dozen times during a confrontation with police in July. The suit alleges that Cespedes used excessive force and violated Dante Cespedes’ civil rights when they opened fire inside the family’s apartment.

Cespedes, 40, appeared intoxicated when he lunged at officers with knives inside his Lake Street home early July 9, the prosecutor's office said after the incident. 

The officers, who were at the home to serve Cespedes with a temporary restraining order after he allegedly assaulted his wife, reacted by shooting the New York chef 24 times, the prosecutor's office said.

Cespedes had been arrested three times in the past two years for two domestic incidents and an aggravated assault on a police officer charge, according to NorthJersey.com.

A rally was held one month after Dante Cespedes was killed inside his Lake Street home on July 9. Protestors chanted, held signs illustrating Cespedes with his two children and one stating: "you are killers," according to NorthJersey.com.

A similar protest was held in July when more than 30 people gathered at the corner of Washington and Belleville avenues demanding justice, just hours after Cespedes was buried in Kearny.

The August protest came days after the identities of the officers involved in the shooting were revealed publicly for the first time.

According to a Use of Force Reports obtained by the Belleville Times, Officer Matthew Dox, 29, Officer Charles P. Mollineaux, 41, and Officer Angelo Quinn, 38, opened fire after Cespedes allegedly lunged at them with knives.

A total of 30 shots were fired with 24 of them hitting Cespedes, mostly in the head and chest, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. Mollineaux and Quinn each fired 14 shots and Dox fired twice, according to the Belleville Times report.