Independence Day - The Fourth of Their Lie. (See Constitution & Declaration of Undie-Pendance). From FUNKTIONARY

From [HERE] The fireworks weren’t the only explosive moments at last year’s Fourth of July celebration, which ended in four arrests, the eventual discipline of several police officers and outraged calls in the community for the police chief’s ouster.

Police officers have been accused of using excessive force against crowds of mostly black teenagers. And newly released recordings of police radio transmissions that night capture police brass instructing officers to push a group of black teens across the border into Irvington. Officers are then told to “maintain our border” once the youth are across the city line.

The problem? The kids didn’t live in Irvington.

The year-old incident has exposed racial tension in one of the most diverse parts of New Jersey. About 35 percent of Maplewood and 29 percent of South Orange are black. The middle-class communities are suburbs of Newark and neighboring Irvington, which is 85 percent black. Irvington also has a higher crime rate than its neighbors.

New Jersey 101.5 this week obtained copies of the audio recordings. The voices ordering officers to push the teens across the city line were identified by local news website The Village Green as those of Chief Robert Cimino and Capt. Joshua Cummis.

The city also released hours of video from police dashcam recordings, which show more than a dozen officers herding a small group of young men and women through a neighborhood.

The parade of cops and young people is orderly until a commotion happens off camera. Video shows two groups of officers taking down two young men and arresting them. One of the teens is punched several times by a number of officers while one officer reaches for what appears to be a chemical spray.

Public attention is back on the year-old incident after the Township Committee this month ordered the release of the recordings for the first time. The police department announced on Friday, ahead of the release of the recordings, that six officers had been disciplined.

The incident was investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, which declined to press criminal charges against any officers, spokeswoman Catherine Carter said.  In April, the prosecutor also declined to charge Cimino and Cummis with racial profiling.