headline: New Jersey sues Clark over racially discriminatory policing under former mayor slug: 2026-01-16-clark-nj-state-sues-town-ov…

  • CLARK, N.J. — New Jersey’s attorney general sued the town of Clark and three current and former officials on Friday, alleging that former…
  • The complaint, filed by Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights, names Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chi…
  • The civil rights action builds on a 2020 episode in which a police officer secretly recorded Bonaccorso and other officials using racial …
  • An analysis cited in the complaint found that Black people were stopped 3.7 times more often than white people in Clark between 2015 and …

CLARK, N.J. — New Jersey’s attorney general sued the town of Clark and three current and former officials on Friday, alleging that former Mayor Sal Bonaccorso directed police to systematically stop and harass Black and Hispanic motorists while working to keep minorities out of the New York suburb.

The complaint, filed by Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights, names Bonaccorso, suspended Police Chief Pedro Matos, and current Police Director Patrick Grady as defendants. It claims Clark’s leadership “systematically discriminated against and harassed Black and other non-white motorists,” according to the filing.

The civil rights action builds on a 2020 episode in which a police officer secretly recorded Bonaccorso and other officials using racial slurs — a matter the town resolved with a $400,000 settlement — and on Bonaccorso’s subsequent guilty plea to unrelated corruption charges that ended a 25-year tenure.

What the data showed

An analysis cited in the complaint found that Black people were stopped 3.7 times more often than white people in Clark between 2015 and 2020. Hispanic people were stopped 2.2 times more often than white people during the same period, according to the same analysis.

The attorney general’s office said data from 2020 to 2024 revealed some improvements in policing practices that coincided with a reduction of some racial disparities, though some disparities persisted to some extent even after oversight began.

Background on the key figures

Bonaccorso, a Republican, served as Clark’s mayor for about 25 years. He was easily reelected in November 2024 despite allegations of corruption, then resigned in January 2025, days into his seventh term, after pleading guilty to using township resources to benefit his private landscaping business and forging signatures on permit applications for work his company performed in the area.

Bonaccorso did not respond to a voicemail left by a reporter. When NJ.com asked about the suit, he replied with a two-word text using an expletive to describe the lawsuit.

In 2020, a police officer told officials he had secretly recorded Bonaccorso, Matos, and another police official using racial slurs while referring to Black people. The town agreed to pay $400,000 to settle that matter out of court, though the allegations later became public.

Town officials push back

Clark’s current mayor, Angel Albanese, a Republican who succeeded Bonaccorso, called the state’s lawsuit “frivolous” and accused Platkin of “playing politics” as his tenure as attorney general nears its end. Charles Sciarra, an attorney for Matos, voiced similar views and noted the timing of the suit’s filing.

Matos has been on paid leave since July 2020, when the Union County Prosecutor’s Office seized control of the Clark police department. He has sued Clark to block his firing, and those disciplinary proceedings remain active. The prosecutor’s oversight of the department ended last March.

Clark is located about 27 miles south of Manhattan.