NJ elected official surrenders on charges of flashing gun during dispute

🔵 Elected official accused of intimidation
🔵 Showed gun to tow truck driver, police say
🔵 Driver was towing relative

ORANGE — A local councilman and retired police officer has been accused of flashing a firearm at a tow truck operator in an effort to intimidate them last fall.

Kerry Coley surrendered to authorities on Monday in connection with an incident in October.

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The truck operator was in the process of towing a relative’s car, according to police.

Specific charges against Coley were not immediately available on Thursday, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

Coley was ordered not to possess any firearms and not to have contact with the person he's accused of intimidating as conditions of his release from custody.

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Coley, a registered Democrat, is the East Ward City Councilman for the City of Orange Township with his current term expiring next year. He retired from the Orange Police Department as a sergeant in 2014.

Coley is also a U.S. Army veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division.

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