"A stunning police dashboard camera video helped exonerate an innocent New Jersey man — and led to the indictments of two Bloomfield cops who wrongly accused the man and allegedly beat him during the 2012 incident.
Before prosecutors were given a dashcam video from a second patrol car, Marcus Jeter faced charges of eluding police, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on an officer.
...
Dashcam video shows that tension at the stop quickly escalated. Two officers jump out of the patrol car and order Jeter out of the car at gunpoint. One is holding a pistol at the man while a second holds a shotgun at his side.
A second tape, of a backup officer responding from the other side of the highway, shows the patrol car swerve across oncoming traffic and running into the front of Jeter’s SUV, causing him to hit his head on the steering wheel.
Neither that video nor the fact the officer struck Jeter’s SUV with his patrol car was ever mentioned in any police report of the incident.
...
Jeter says he was scared he’d be shot if he exited the car. Instead, he says — and the video supports this claim — he sat where he was with his hands in the air as the officers broke the window, unlocked his door and worked to get his seatbelt off to arrest him.
“The next thing I know, as he’s coming around the car, the glass gets busted and all the glass goes in my face,” Jeter told WABC. “My hands are up. As soon as he opens the door, one of the officers just reached in and punched me in the face. As he’s trying to take my seatbelt off, he’s elbowing me in my jaw. And I’m like ‘Ahhh!’ and he’s like ‘Stop trying to take my gun! Stop resisting arrest!’”
...
“Stop resisting! Stop trying to take my f------ gun! Just put your hands behind your back, a--hole,” one officer yells.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” a muffled Jeter can be heard saying as his face is smashed into the cement.
...
An internal investigation into the incident found the officers did nothing wrong. But they were suspended without pay in April 2013 and indicted on Jan 31.
...
The fact it took so long for the second video to come to light enraged Bloomfield’s Mayor Michael Venezia, who said on his Facebook page that he was “outraged” over “this police cover-up.”
“I am outraged by the police dashboard video and the fact that these charges were initially dismissed by our internal affairs division,” he wrote. "
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...ates-nj-man-implicates-cops-article-1.1701763
The initial investigation by internal affairs exonerated the police, it wasn't until the 2nd video surfaced - 18 months after the initial incident - that the Marcus Jeter was able to prove the police charges against him were false. He was not only assaulted by police, but was facing 5 years in jail for the false charges brought against him.
The police which assaulted Jeter and pressed false charges against him were set to stand trial on July 13.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/cri...for-bloomfield-police-dash-cam-case-1.1285504
Despite the trial having supposed to be started on July 13, i can't find anything about the proceedings.
Before prosecutors were given a dashcam video from a second patrol car, Marcus Jeter faced charges of eluding police, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on an officer.
...
Dashcam video shows that tension at the stop quickly escalated. Two officers jump out of the patrol car and order Jeter out of the car at gunpoint. One is holding a pistol at the man while a second holds a shotgun at his side.
A second tape, of a backup officer responding from the other side of the highway, shows the patrol car swerve across oncoming traffic and running into the front of Jeter’s SUV, causing him to hit his head on the steering wheel.
Neither that video nor the fact the officer struck Jeter’s SUV with his patrol car was ever mentioned in any police report of the incident.
...
Jeter says he was scared he’d be shot if he exited the car. Instead, he says — and the video supports this claim — he sat where he was with his hands in the air as the officers broke the window, unlocked his door and worked to get his seatbelt off to arrest him.
“The next thing I know, as he’s coming around the car, the glass gets busted and all the glass goes in my face,” Jeter told WABC. “My hands are up. As soon as he opens the door, one of the officers just reached in and punched me in the face. As he’s trying to take my seatbelt off, he’s elbowing me in my jaw. And I’m like ‘Ahhh!’ and he’s like ‘Stop trying to take my gun! Stop resisting arrest!’”
...
“Stop resisting! Stop trying to take my f------ gun! Just put your hands behind your back, a--hole,” one officer yells.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” a muffled Jeter can be heard saying as his face is smashed into the cement.
...
An internal investigation into the incident found the officers did nothing wrong. But they were suspended without pay in April 2013 and indicted on Jan 31.
...
The fact it took so long for the second video to come to light enraged Bloomfield’s Mayor Michael Venezia, who said on his Facebook page that he was “outraged” over “this police cover-up.”
“I am outraged by the police dashboard video and the fact that these charges were initially dismissed by our internal affairs division,” he wrote. "
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...ates-nj-man-implicates-cops-article-1.1701763
The initial investigation by internal affairs exonerated the police, it wasn't until the 2nd video surfaced - 18 months after the initial incident - that the Marcus Jeter was able to prove the police charges against him were false. He was not only assaulted by police, but was facing 5 years in jail for the false charges brought against him.
The police which assaulted Jeter and pressed false charges against him were set to stand trial on July 13.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/cri...for-bloomfield-police-dash-cam-case-1.1285504
Despite the trial having supposed to be started on July 13, i can't find anything about the proceedings.
