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Two other officers at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown were holding the inmate with his back turned when Jason Parks, 40, of Gibbstown, struck him twice in the head this past Feb. 19, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Wednesday.
“The force of the blows knocked the inmate’s head against a wall,” Grewal said, noting that the “use of force under these circumstances is not authorized by [state] rules and regulations.”
After the assault, Parks filed a bogus report claiming the inmate cursed at him and threatened to spit in his face, the attorney general said.
Parks, in his report, “stated that he struck the inmate in the mouth with an open hand to prevent him from spitting,” Grewal said.
Surveillance video from the facility and statements from witnesses proved otherwise, he said.
Parks also is accused of directing another correctional police officer to lie in his report to match his own account of the incident, the attorney general said.
Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Gilmore is handling the case for the staste Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which conducted the investigation along with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) Special Investigations Division.
The DOC suspended Parks, who received a summons to appear in court on the charges, Grewal said.
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