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“He is going to resign,” one source told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM.
It’s unclear when that will occur: Another source said Zisa on Thursday told a group of staff members, including PBA officials: “I’m weighing my options.”
Either way, a monitor will be sought to run the department, one of the attendees at the meeting said.
Charles “Ken” Zisa, a former state Assemblyman, is being charged in connection with a DWI accident his girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan, had more than a year ago with his SUV.
Investigators accuse Zisa of ordering a subordinate to write in a police report that a rodent had crossed the road, causing her to swerve and smash her car into a utility pole, the high-ranking source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. He then filed an insurance claim based on the bogus report, the source said.
Zisa, who has run the department the past 15 years, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Zisa, left, in happier times with ex-Gov. Corzine and current state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (photo courtesy: Dominican American Council of NJ)
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli declined comment.
Members of the Hackensack Police Department have called recent years a reign of terror, with 15 current and former police officers accusing Zisa of retaliation in civil suits filed against him. In most cases, they said, it was because they refused to participate in fundraisers for Zisa, who was hoping to be voted back in to office in Trenton.
The president of the police union has been suspended for sixth months after using the name of an internal affairs captain when posting what were deemed “derogatory” and “disrespectful” comments on an online forum, after his wife’s personal computer was confiscated.
Zisa met with his staff at 3 o’clock today and told them he originally planned to turn himself in tomorrow. But word leaked out, and he was processed tonight. A court appearance is expected.
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