Policy

Repo Reality Show Star is a Cop on Disability

If you're going to step in front of a camera ...

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On television, Joseph Derrico pursues a monster truck on foot, pulls the driver out of the vehicle and tosses him to the ground. He is on truTV's "Bear Swamp Recovery," a reality show on vehicle repos by the "baddest towing team in Jersey."

Yet Derrico collects a police disability pension of nearly $70,000 a year. In the eyes of the State of New Jersey, the retired HamiltonTownship cop is "totally and permanently disabled" by a leg injury.

No stranger to trouble, Derrico was a criminal defendant when he retired in 2010. A MercerCounty grand jury indicted Derrico on a felony charge of theft by receiving stolen property.