Three Jersey City police officers disciplined after consuming cannabis have amended their lawsuit seeking full reinstatement to add Mayor James Solomon and Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose as defendants, according to the amended complaint filed by their lawyer. The case remains pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County.
Jersey City police officers disciplined over cannabis add Mayor Solomon to reinstatement suit
Three Jersey City police officers disciplined after consuming cannabis have amended their lawsuit seeking full reinstatement to add Mayor James Solomon and Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose as defendants, according to the amended complaint filed by their lawyer. The case remains pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County.
The officers are named in the source as Norhan Mansour, Omar Polanco and Mackenzie Reilly. The source reports that the Solomon administration has largely continued the policy of the preceding Fulop administration, and the suit has been amended to add several unnamed defendants identified as John and Jane Does.
The amended complaint says the plaintiffs prevailed in their appeals before the Office of Administrative Law and the Civil Service Commission, but that the defendants refused to obey the lawful orders of administrative law judges and the commission to reinstate them, and purposefully violated those orders for more than a year.
The suit was initially filed against the city, former Mayor Steve Fulop and then Public Safety Director James Shea, among others. Lawyers for the defendants tried multiple times unsuccessfully to get the lawsuit dismissed, according to the source.
According to the complaint, Chief of Police Kearns issued an order on January 30, 2026 moving the plaintiffs to the Central Communication Bureau to work as dispatchers together with other officers who had been accused or found guilty of misconduct. The complaint also says the defendants required the plaintiffs to complete recruit-level training sessions that had no relation to their experience as veteran officers and that no other officer was required to complete, while an officer on modified duty for years for DWI and being psychologically unfit was allowed to qualify and return to duty in days without that training program.
The complaint states that on February 2, 2026, Officer Mansour's counsel notified the defendants' Corporation Counsel, Sarah Levine, of what the filing describes as continuing severe and pervasive abuse and retaliation against Officer Mansour. According to the complaint, Levine did not respond for more than a month, took no action to stop the harassment and retained outside counsel instead.
Solomon's Chief of Staff, Laura Bustamante, declined to comment on the situation. Communications Director Nathaniel Styer recently left his position, and Bustamante has taken over communications duties for now, according to the source.
On cannabis policy, the source reports that Fulop allowed many dispensaries and smoke shops to open and sell cannabis, with many located close to one another, while opposing the right of police officers to consume cannabis. A lawsuit alleging Fulop's involvement with the Story dispensary in Hoboken remains ongoing, according to the source. Since taking office, Solomon has restarted and switched up Cannabis Control Board appointments, and a few new applications have been approved after the board went defunct as Fulop ran for governor and finished third in the June 2026 Democratic primary.
- The source does not state the date on which the amended complaint was filed.
- The source spells the mayor's surname both as 'Solmon' and as 'Solomon' and does not reconcile the two.
- The source does not specify which rulings are meant by its statement that one side lost several times in court at the local and federal level, or whether those losses preceded or followed the officers' administrative appeals.
- The source does not state the discipline each officer originally received or when it was imposed.
- The source does not state how many officers are plaintiffs beyond the three named, or how many unnamed John and Jane Doe defendants are listed.
- The source does not state the status of the lawsuit alleging Fulop's involvement with the Story dispensary in Hoboken beyond that it remains ongoing.