A New Jersey school resource officer charged for endangering a handcuffed child
The Gloucester County sheriff's officer is facing charges of official misconduct and endangering a child stemming from an altercation with a juvenile one year ago.
A New Jersey school resource officer has been charged with misconduct and child endangerment after an altercation with a juvenile in 2024, Gloucester County prosecutors said.
Charles P. Rudolph, 51, of Franklinville, was indicted on second-degree official misconduct and second-degree endangering, abusing, or neglecting a child on Wednesday, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.
Both counts carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
Prosecutors say that while employed as a school resource officer, on behalf of the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office, Rudolph “forcefully pushed” a juvenile’s neck, face, and chest onto a table while the juvenile was handcuffed during an incident that occurred on Dec. 19, 2024.
Officials did not release more information on the incident that led to the altercation between Rudolph and the juvenile, any identifying details about the child, or the school where Rudolph worked.
The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the case.
Rudolph’s lawyer, Stuart Alterman, called the criminal case “an improvident indictment of a very professional law enforcement officer” who has had “a spotless record of over 20 years.”
Alterman said in a statement that the incident involved a student who had been expelled from Gloucester County Institute of Technology who then returned to the school and got into “a knock down dragged out fight in the cafeteria with other Sheriff’s Officers minutes before his interaction with Officer Rudolph.”
Alterman said the school was locked down because of the expelled student and “Officer Rudolph attempted to escort this juvenile out of the building to his patrol car so that the lock down would end and school would resume.”
The juvenile resisted, according to Alterman, and “Officer Rudolph merely used his training and experience to prevent the juvenile from eloping, injuring himself, Officer Rudolph and or anyone else.”
A court appearance for Rudolph is preliminarily scheduled for Feb. 5, according to prosecutors.