NJ AG Slams Clark Township With Discrimination Lawsuit: “Keep Black People Out” Allegations, Stop Data, and a Town in Denial

CLARK, N.J. — New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state Division on Civil Rights have filed a sweeping civil rights lawsuit accusing Clark Township and the Clark Police Department of years of racially discriminatory traffic enforcement aimed at targeting Black and other non-white motorists — with the stated goal, investigators say, of keeping them out of town.

The complaint, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, alleges Clark’s political and police leadership built a traffic-stop machine that treated non-white drivers differently — and did it systematically. The state says the Division on Civil Rights investigation focuses on the period from 2015 through the end of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office takeover (supersession) in March 2025.

The quote at the center: a slur and an alleged directive

In one of the most explosive allegations, the complaint says longtime former Mayor Salvatore “Sal” Bonaccorso pushed police leadership to drive Black people out, including an alleged statement telling police to “keep chasing the spooks out of town,” using a racial slur to refer to Black people. (That quote is presented as an allegation in the state’s complaint.)

The lawsuit names Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chief Pedro Matos, and current Police Director Patrick Grady as defendants, alleging Clark’s top brass helped build and sustain discriminatory policing practices.

The numbers the state is using

A major part of the state’s case is data analysis.

AP coverage of the complaint reports that, between 2015 and 2020, Black motorists were stopped 3.7 times more often than white motorists, and Hispanic motorists were stopped 2.2 times more often than white motorists.

Separately, the state says that while Black and Hispanic residents make up less than 11% of Clark’s population, their share of police stops was far higher: over 37% of stops (where the driver’s race was recorded) involved Black or Hispanic drivers, and over 53% of stops made outside Clark’s boundaries involved Black or Hispanic drivers.

What the state says Clark police were trained to do

According to the state’s public description of the complaint, Clark police leadership implemented multiple practices designed to increase stops and searches of non-white drivers, including:

• Focusing traffic enforcement on key roadways connecting Clark to the Garden State Parkway and to neighboring Rahway and Linden (towns with larger Black and Hispanic populations).
• Prioritizing low-level equipment/administrative violations over safety-related moving violations.
• Using claims of marijuana odor as a pretext to justify vehicle searches.

The backdrop: secret recordings and a settlement

Clark has been haunted for years by controversy involving secret recordings and allegations of racism and misconduct tied to township leadership.

In April 2022, reporting described how audio recordings became public showing Bonaccorso using racial slurs and making misogynistic comments. That coverage tied the recordings to a settlement with police Lt. Antonio Manata, who said he recorded township and police figures and later reached a deal with the town.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Nov. 20, 2023 public report states the Manata settlement totaled $400,000 and the settlement agreement was signed January 29, 2020, with the report describing how the agreement required Manata to turn over recordings and included confidentiality provisions.

Prosecutor takeover and what happened next

Clark’s police department was taken over by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in July 2020, and the state says that supersession continued until March 2025.

Even with reforms, the lawsuit claims disparities and impacts continued — and the Attorney General’s office is now asking the court for an injunction to stop discriminatory conduct, plus enhanced oversight and damages for people allegedly harmed by the practices.

Clark’s response: “frivolous” and “political”

Clark Township’s current mayor, Angel Albanese, blasted the case in an official statement, calling it “frivolous” and claiming it’s political. He also asserted that years of oversight found no systemic issues and cited what he described as an AG report dated Nov. 23, 2023 as finding no bias-based policing — a claim the town makes as it fights the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, civil rights groups applauded the action. The ACLU-NJ said the lawsuit “sends a clear message” and called it a milestone toward accountability.

Bottom line

This lawsuit is now the defining legal test of Clark’s policing scandal: the state is saying the town didn’t just tolerate racist talk — it allegedly built policy around it.

And Clark is saying the state is lying, exaggerating, and contradicting years of oversight.

Either way, the courtroom is where the receipts are going to land.