10/30/2026
He suffered a slow and agonizing death in police custody, his screams of pain captured on body camera video.
Newark and NJ Transit police believed the 73-year-old church handyman had been driving drunk. But Juan Restrepo, disoriented and so weak he couldn’t walk, was actually gradually dying in front of them from a diabetic attack.
Restrepo’s family said police officers could have easily saved him that day in 2020 if they had gotten him the medical attention he so desperately needed. They sued for wrongful death, charging that for two hours as he deteriorated, police treated Restrepo like a suspect and not the ailing man with heart disease that he was, callously ignoring all-too-obvious signs that he was having a medical episode.
And after a lengthy legal battle, Restrepo’s death will cost Newark and NJ Transit $2.5 million.
“He died a needless death,” said the Rev. Charles Rush of Christ Church in Summit, where Restrepo served as a beloved sexton for about 20 years. “I mean, that’s the bottom line.”
In a settlement on the cusp of a civil trial in June, Newark agreed to pay $1.75 million and NJ Transit $750,000 to Restrepo’s widow, Rocio Restrepo. The terms, partially disclosed in legal filings last month, were confirmed by her lawyer, Stewart Leviss.
The settlement “speaks to what Mr. Restrepo experienced while he was in police custody and what he went through,” said Leviss, who charged officers had a responsibility to get the Summit man a medical evaluation, but failed to “follow their own procedures.”
