CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE
A suspended Wildwood police officer accused of kicking two handcuffed suspects in the head last year pleaded innocent Friday morning in Superior Court to a charge of official misconduct.
Sgt. David Romeo, 37, was suspended without pay Aug. 24, 2007, following an internal police investigation of his conduct July 24, 2007.
Officers at the scene reported the alleged use of excessive force, prompting the internal-affairs investigation with the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office.
Romeo's lawyer, John Tumelty, told Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten that he is asking for information about a knife secured from the scene but not included in police reports.
Tumelty did not indicate the significance of the knife.
He also said he is seeking expert witnesses and awaiting a copy of a grand jury transcript.
Friday was Romeo's first court appearance after his indictment in August.
In 2007, two suspects, Louis McCullough, 28, and Gilbert Haege, 28, of Wildwood Crest, were arrested following a surveillance operation led by detectives and a bicycle patrol unit, according to police reports.
Police observed McCullough and Haege burglarizing a car in a parking lot.
The two suspects had resisted arrest, injuring Officer Ed Ramsey.
Romeo was not the arresting officer that night and was not present during the scuffle in which Ramsey was injured.
First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer has said that by the time Romeo arrived on the scene, the two men were already apprehended and lying on the ground in handcuffs waiting to be transported.
The two men were lying on the ground on their stomachs when Romeo kicked them, Meyer has said. Neither suffered serious injuries.
Romeo, 36, was charged by the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office with official misconduct, a second-degree crime, and two counts of simple assault, a disorderly persons offense.
Wildwood hired Romeo in 1994. He earned $74,000 per year as a police sergeant, not including longevity payments.
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