The lawsuit challenges the decision to withhold footage tied to criminal charges against an Essex County sergeant.
The Jersey Vindicator filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking the release of police body camera footage related to criminal charges against an Essex County prosecutor’s office sergeant accused of stealing a photojournalist’s camera bag during protests outside Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center.
The suit, filed in Essex County Superior Court, comes after the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office denied a request for body camera footage recorded by Sgt. Darryl Brown, who was charged earlier this month with third-degree theft. Prosecutors allege Brown took a camera bag belonging to an Associated Press photojournalist who was injured while covering a May 30 protest outside Delaney Hall. An Apple AirTag attached to one of the missing items led investigators to Brown’s home in Sparta, where they recovered several pieces of equipment. The bag contained an estimated $10,000 worth of cameras and other gear…