Fort Lee To Pay $120K To Teens Left in Police Van

Three boys left locked in a Fort Lee police van overnight in freezing temperatures will each receive a $120,000 payout through a settlement reached with the borough, The Record reported.

Five of the teens were left in a cage in the van and had their cell phones seized by officers, the report said, citing the suit. The teens claimed they were locked in the van for 15 hours without food, water or bathrooms. A passerby discovered the teens the next day and alerted police, according to the compliant.

Fort Lee officials have said an internal affairs investigation didn’t find any evidence of racial bias and then-Chief Thomas Ripoli said the incident was the result of “human error.”

Several police officers were disciplined in the incident, Patch reported in 2011. The names of those officers have never been made public.