The Place for Jersey City News
Log In / Register
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Jersey City Times
  • News
  • Diversions
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Other Fun Stuff
  • In Our Midst
  • Food And Drink
  • Education
  • Neighborhoods
    • Downtown
      • News
      • Guide
    • Heights
      • News
      • Guide
    • Journal Square
      • News
      • Guide
    • Bergen Lafayette
      • News
      • Guide
    • Greenville
      • News
      • Guide
    • Westside
      • News
      • Guide
  • Opinion
  • Columns
    • Eye Level
    • Mamarama
  • Event Calendar
  • Support our Mission
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Aaron Morrill

Editorial: Post-Bostwick Avenue: Is it Time for Civilian Oversight of the Police?

May 12, 2020/in header, Latest News, Opinion /by Aaron Morrill

“He bugging, he bugging …” Those are the words of an unidentified man videotaping last Tuesday’s street melee on Bostwick Avenue.  The man’s play-by-play would almost be humorous (“He hurt coach, take him take him out of the game”) if we weren’t watching something so troubling.

The video begins with a fistfight on the street between what appears to be two to four people. A crowd of ten to twenty people surrounds the fighters and, after a lot of yelling and pushing, successfully breaks them up. The hubbub dies down. The crowd begins to disperse. It looks like life is returning to normal on Bostwick Avenue.

The crowd is largely gone when the police arrive in a patrol car. Inexplicably, the video then stops. A second video then shows a police officer running after a black man in tan pants. The man attempts to run up the stairs to one of the houses and the officer grabs the man from behind. A second man comes from behind the officer and tries to pull him off the man in tan pants. A man next to them sitting on a chair gets knocked to the ground. A second officer goes to the aid of his colleague wrestling with the man in tan pants. More cops and civilians descend on the brawl. One cop gets knocked down and is seen wrestling with a civilian on the sidewalk. Some officers can be seen trying to separate people.

Enter a dark-haired police officer with sunglasses. Armed with a whip-like baton, he unleashes a savage beating on several men lying on the sidewalk. At least one is not moving and clearly posing no threat to anyone. The baton-armed officer is indeed “bugging.” By the end of the altercation, at least two men can be seen lying on the sidewalk on Bostwick Avenue, handcuffed and in physical distress.

Here’s what we know from analyzing the videos. First, by the time the police arrived it appears that the street fight was over. The people in the neighborhood had apparently broken it up, and the combatants had been separated. Second, violence broke out a second time after the police arrived — but this time only between police officers and civilians, not between civilians themselves. Third, while many officers appeared to have acted appropriately, at a minimum the force applied by the dark-haired officer with sunglasses was excessive.

In the wake of the incident, activists Chris Gadsen and Frank Gilmore alleged that the police used excessive force and called for the creation of a civilian complaint review board to investigate abuses. Police Chief Michael Kelly, on the other hand, said the police had acted appropriately and with “great restraint.” Carmine Disbrow, president of the Jersey City Police Officer’s Benevolent Association, said that “police lives were at risk” and that the violence was “precipitated by individuals who are more committed to creating chaos than by abiding to even the most basic of community standards.” On Sunday, a group of protesters marched from Berry Lane Park to the police department’s Greenville District and held a raucous protest.

The police department claims that pepper spray and batons were used only after one individual reached for an officer’s duty belt. From the videos available to the public however, it’s impossible to verify that assertion. One hopes that it is true, but without the body camera video of the initial interaction between the man in tan pants and the officer who pursued him, it will be impossible to know for sure how the encounter turned violent.

None of this is to say that cops don’t have a tough job. They do. Every Jersey City resident has an interest in the safety and success of our police.  Civilians, no matter how aggrieved, should not resist arrest nor intervene when an arrest is taking place.   The job of challenging what is perceived to be improper police conduct must be left to lawyers. But, similarly, it is vital that the police nurture a relationship of trust with those they police. Whether better “community policing” might have helped in this instance, we’ll never know. Suffice it to say, the videos show an unsustainable level of distrust between the police and the Greenville community.

A transparent investigation that includes witness interviews and disclosure of all body camera videos is required. Moreover, even if the belt-grabbing allegation is proven to be true, the police department will still have to explain how the baton-wielding officer’s actions were appropriate and if they weren’t what discipline the officer will face. The burden will be on the police department to demonstrate that it can credibly investigate itself. If this incident shows that it can’t, it will be time to create a civilian complaint review board.

 

 

Header: Photo by Aaron Morrill

Tags: Civilian Complain Review Board, Jersey City Police Department
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
You might also like
Jersey City Weeps for Detective Joseph Seals
Activists Allege Police Brutality in Greenville Melee
City Council Meeting Focused on George Floyd
JC Police Struggle to Control Fireworks
Council Approves New Police Recruits Amidst Pushback
Council Meeting Ends in Defeat for Police De-funders
Four protesters with placards at rally to protest police brutality Fulop Supports Civilian Complaint Review Board
Police Shoot Suspect at Salem-Lafayette Housing Project

News Briefs

Christian Parra, age 34, of Jersey City, was shot on Sunday night in BJ’s parking lot on Marin Boulevard and Second Street. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center and pronounced dead at 9 pm. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip here. 

Jesus Gonzalez, 30, died in a car crash on Saturday night when the car in which he was a passenger hit the attenuator-protected guard rail on Christopher Columbus Drive near Merseles Street. The driver, also 30, was listed in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center.

Assemblyman Nicholas A. Chiaravalloti (D-Hudson) is joining Governor Phil Murphy at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City for the signing of Bill A4410 / S2743, which will permanently codify the Community College Opportunity Grant Program into law. Students enrolled in any of the state’s 18 community colleges may be able to have their tuition waived. Students must be enrolled in at least six credits per semester and have an adjusted gross income of $0 -$65,000 in order to be considered. 

Jersey City Library Director Jeffrey Trzeciak is leaving to take a job in his hometown, Dayton, Ohio after serving for just 15 months.

The Jersey City Education Association has started a GoFundMe campaign to support the family of 11-year-old Desire Reid and eight-month old Kenyon Robinson who died in a house fire on Martin Luther King Drive on Wednesday night. Here is the link.

Vaccine-eligible individuals can make an appointment online by visiting hudsoncovidvax.org.

The 2021 tree planting applications are available. If you have an empty tree pit on your block or a street you can fill out the form and the city’s arborists will handle it.  bit.ly/adoptatreespri…

Keep abreast of Jersey City Covid-19 statistics here.

Governor Murphy has launched a “Covid Transparency Website” where New Jerseyans can track state expenditures related to Covid.  Go here.

For info on vaccinations, call Vaccination Call Center and our operators will assist you with scheduling one: 855-568-0545

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

Thu 04

Historic Downtown SID Winter’s Farm Market

March 4 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jersey City NJ
United States
Sat 06

Communipaw Cleanup

March 6 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Jersey City NJ
United States
Sat 06

Paulus Hook Farmer’s Market

March 6 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Jersey City NJ
United States
Sat 06

The Empowering: A Social Justice Exhibition Curated by Danielle Scott

March 6 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Jersey City NJ
United States
Sat 06

The Divine Energy (Vinyasa Yoga)

March 6 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Jersey City NJ
United States

View More…

CONTACT US

    ADS/INFO

    For information on advertising opportunities, please contact - ads@jcitytimes.com

    For information on writing opportunities, please contact - info@jcitytimes.com

    Download our media kit here

    ABOUT US

    About Jersey City Times

    Contact Jersey City Times

    Social

    Archive

    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    Copyright © 2020 JCityTimes.com. All Rights Reserved - powered by Enfold WordPress Theme
    How the Pandemic Has Transformed the College Experience and Could Transform... auditorium university lecture hall Students Face the New Realities of College Life, Virtual and Otherwise
    Scroll to top
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Support Jersey City Times WITH A MONTHLY CONTRIBUTION

    for the price of a tall coffee at Starbucks!