Union City Mayor Brian Stack took the stand Thursday during the trial of retired Police Officer Juan Estrella, denying the main allegation of the case: That the officer was not promoted to sergeant in 2022 due to his Dominican heritage.
For around two-and-half hours, granted with many interruptions, Stack – also the state senator of the 33rd Legislative District – was grilled by plaintiff attorney Ernest Ianetti before defense attorney Phillip Morrow had a much briefer line of questioning.
Ianetti began by having Stack describe his duties as mayor and director of public safety t0 which Stack said that as director, he was responsible for duties including setting policy and orchestrating community meetings.
“It would be setting policy, as director of public safety, so passing ordinances. Each commissioner serves a different department and we set laws,” Stack stated…