The Defund the Police movement killed a lot of people and destroyed families. On the bright side, Earlja Dudley was put away at all. But at only 2.5 years it’s a slap on the wrist. Four men admitted to lighting up a cruiser during a Trenton, NJ protest, Dudley is the last of the four. His sentence was plea bargained down March 2. Dudley and another person were seen on surveillance video starting an engine fire.
Police under attack
Some of them survive. The George Floyd protests started a mess and this was part of it. This started as a peaceful protest May 31, 2020.
Dudley wore the same clothes both on video and on a picture shared on social media. A tank top and a baseball cap with the Roman numerals “XIV” in red, said US Attorney Phillip Sellinger.
Police vehicles destroyed
Rioting later in the day on East State Street saw vandals smashing storefronts, looting and destroying police vehicles. The feds charged Dudley with “attempting to damage or destroy by fire a vehicle owned or possessed by an institution receiving federal financial assistance,” and “attempting to damage or destroy by fire a vehicle used in and affecting interstate commerce.”
He didn’t want to face trial so instead he plead guilty in the US District Court in Trenton last July. The prison term had more added to it though.
Don’t interfere with police
U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti also sentenced Dudley via video conference to three years of supervised release. The three other men face similar sentences.
Last June Killian Melecio got 28 months in federal prison and three years supervised release. Justin Spry was sentenced to two years in the federal pen with three years supervised release. Finally, Kadeem Dockery pleaded guilty last May and is waiting for his sentence. Dockery did a little more. He threw an additional firebomb at New Jersey state troopers in that riot. Melecio and Dockery were identified via their “distinctive tattoos”.
Law enforcement help
Sellinger was grateful to the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark for their help. He thanked police officers in Trenton as well as state troopers.
The state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and the New Jersey Dept. of Corrections pitched in. The Assistant US Attorneys Alexander Ramey and Michelle Gasparian, a part of Sellinger’s Criminal Division in Trenton handled the case.
