Cop indicted for pepper spraying man who died turns down plea deal, lawyer says

A Trenton police officer indicted last year on an official misconduct charge for pepper spraying a man who later died has turned down a plea bargain.
State prosecutors offered Officer Nicholas Piotrowski the chance to plead guilty to simple assault, a misdemeanor, and receive no time behind bars, his lawyer, Jerome Ballarotto told NJ Advance Media.
“He can’t do that, because he did not assault this guy,” Ballarotto said.
Piotrowski is accused of using excessive force for pepper spraying Joseph Ahr Sr. during a confrontation outside his Trenton home in July 2020. He was one of nine officers at the scene, which started when Ahr’s son called police due to a domestic dispute that did not involve Ahr Sr.
Officers arrested Ahr Sr. when he continued to argue with them and block access to his home, officials have said, and body camera footage shows. Piotrowski sprayed Ahr as the combative arrest tumbled down his front stairs.
As he gasped, Ahr told officers he could not breathe, and later said he only had one working lung. He also had the coronavirus, but it’s unclear if he knew that. He died in a local hospital 18 days later.
A medical examiner determined his cause of death was “acute respiratory failure following the use of pepper spray during arrest of an individual with chronic pulmonary disease and COVID-19.”
State prosecutors allege Piotrowski struck Ahr and deployed pepper spray at a close range directly in his face, violating New Jersey’s use of force policies.
The pepper spray use was, “unnecessary and contrary to his training, mishandling a situation that could have concluded so much differently,” state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said last year in a statement.
A state grand jury chose to indict Piotrowski on a single count of official misconduct and declined to bring more serious charges “directly related” to Ahr’s death weeks later.
Incidentally, on Thursday, Nov. 21, the federal Department of Justice used the Ahr arrest – without using his name – as an example of how Trenton police needlessly escalate situations. The scathing report, which followed a year-long study of the Trenton police, found city police officers routinely use excessive force and unlawful searches and arrests.
Ballarotto, who spoke to NJ Advance Media before the report was made public, said his client’s actions were appropriate and compatible with his training, and thus, he cannot stand in court and admit to an act to which he did not commit.
The plea deal would have cost Piotrowski his job, too.
“I told [state prosecutors] to dismiss or we go to trial, and that is where we are,” Ballarotto said. The trial date is currently scheduled for May.
An Attorney General’s spokesperson, Dan Prochilo, confirmed that Piotrowski was presented a negotiated plea offer, which is standard.
“An agreement has not been reached, and the defendant has elected to go to trial. The State will be prepared to present its proofs to a jury on May 13, 2025,” Prochilo said.
Ahr’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming his treatment by police caused injuries that directly led to his death after weeks in an intensive care unit. That case is pending, their civil lawyer, Robin Lord said Wednesday.
Piotrowski’s indictment was the first time an officer was charged criminally in New Jersey in a police-involved death since a 2019 law that placed those investigations in the hands of the state Attorney General’s office.
Since then, state prosecutors have indicted Mantua Township Officer Salvatore Oldrati on a manslaughter charge for a September 2021 shooting that killed a man in front of his home. That case is also pending.
Reporting by S.P. Sullivan contributed to this story.
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Kevin Shea may be reached at [email protected].