TRENTON, N.J. -- In a case that fueled a national debate over racial profiling, two state troopers have been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of black and Hispanic men on the New Jersey Turnpike.
John Hogan, 29, and James Kenna, 28, were also charged in a state grand jury indictment with aggravated assault. The troopers, who are white, face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.The troopers are accused of firing into a van containing four young men on their way to a basketball tryout in North Carolina in 1998. Three were wounded, and all have filed civil rights and injury lawsuits against the troopers and the state.
A statement from the union representing state troopers called Tuesday's indictments "outrageous and beyond belief."
"Today a stake was driven through the hearts of many men and women troopers who put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens of this state," said Ed Lennon, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey.
The incident triggered protests and internal probes of "racial profiling" -- the practice of stopping motorists strictly on the basis of their race.
Earlier this year, Gov. Christie Whitman fired the state police superintendent after he said minorities were responsible for most of the state's cocaine and marijuana traffic.
In June, President Clinton issued an executive order calling on federal law enforcement agencies to collect race and gender data in all stops and arrests. Police in several places, including North Carolina, Houston, San Diego and San Jose, Calif., have taken similar measures.
Hogan and Kenna have said they stopped the van because the driver was speeding and they opened fire because it appeared the van was backing up to hit them.
"I am ecstatic with the indictment by the grand jury, and I'm confident that this is the first step on the road to justice," said lawyer Johnnie Cochran, who represents the men in a civil rights lawsuit. "These students were unlawfully assaulted, and I hope that this indictment will be a deterrent for future injustices."
Hogan's lawyer, Robert Galantucci, called the indictment "politically motivated" and said the 16-month investigation browbeat grand jurors.
"The grand jury and the attorney general had months to debate and investigate these issues," Galantucci said. "These troopers had a matter of seconds to make a decision that had an impact on their lives."
Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Charles, chairman of the New Jersey Legislative Black and Latino Caucus, said the indictments "should send a sobering message to the state police hierarchy that nobody is above the law and that truth cannot be repressed."
Earlier this year, Hogan and Kenna were indicted on separate charges of falsifying traffic-stop reports to conceal that they were stopping a lot of black drivers.