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Jimmie D. Smith, 41, was arrested last August by investigators of the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau who were looking into a tip that he was moving large quantities of cocaine in Paterson, state Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said.
The former John F. Kennedy High School assistant freshman basketball coach was sitting in his SUV when they approached him in the parking lot of the Home Depot on McClean Boulevard in Paterson around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, the indictment alleges.
They “activated the flashing lights on their vehicles and identified themselves as officers, but Smith allegedly drove at a detective who had exited his vehicle and sped away,” Hoffman said.
As the SUV fled from the parking lot onto 5th Avenue, it hit a detective’s car. Smith then led detectives on a foot chase and resisted arrested, leaving him in handcuffs and a detective requiring surgery, the attorney general said.
“The allegations in this indictment reveal Smith as a violent man who was dealing drugs on a large scale – in other words, absolutely the last person you would want teaching and coaching students at a high school,” Hoffman said. “We exposed his dangerous double life through our investigation.”
Deputy Attorney General Andrew C. Fried presented the case to the state grand jury for the Division of Criminal Justice. Detectives Louis Renshaw, Kevin Weinkauff, Travis Johnson, Toni Petreski and Miguel Rodriguez conducted the investigation and made the arrest for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
They were assisted by Passaic County Officers Gino Formetin and Johnnie Ramos of the DEA Task Force.
The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. in Mercer County, who assigned the case to Passaic County.
Simith, who remains free on $250,000 bail, will be assigned an arraignment date. He is charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute the drug, possession of cocaine with intent within 500 feet of public housing (Riverside Terrace) and two counts each of aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
Smith has worked in the Paterson School District since 1999 and was an assistant basketball coach at the high school since 2008, authorities said.
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