PATERSON, N.J. (AP) - State and county prosecutors say they are investigating an allegation that police officers in New Jersey assaulted a man “without provocation” in December.
Officials said Monday that the public integrity and accountability office of the New Jersey attorney general’s office will be investigating along with Passaic County prosecutors.
Officials said the case concerns allegations of assault by Paterson officers on a then-19-year-old man early on Dec. 14. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators.
NJ.com reports that a video on social media appears to show two officers repeatedly punching the man before arresting him for aggravated assault. Mayor Andre Sayegh told NJ Advance Media that the officers remain on duty while the incident is being “actively investigated” by city detectives and county prosecutors.
One of the officers wrote in his police report that they were investigating reports of a suspicious person in the area when the man approached “screaming profanities and acting belligerent causing a disturbance” and he assaulted one of them. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The man alleged in an Instagram post Friday that he was walking to his car to go to work when officers approached and began punching him “for no reason.”
Some of Paterson’s police officers recently began wearing body cameras but officials said the officers involved weren’t wearing them.
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