A New Jersey cop was filmed repeatedly punching a woman on a beach in Southern New Jersey and the video has generated massive outrage.
20-year-old Emily Weinman of Philadelphia was punched mostly on the head as the police officers placed her under arrest for alcohol use.
Lexy Hewitt, the beachgoer who filmed the incident with her phone, narrated the incident.
“She started screaming initially. It was almost like blood-curdling,” Hewitt said. “The officers were on top of her on the ground and that’s when I just decided — there’s so much going on everywhere — why not, just in case [record the incident].”
The video does not show what led to the confrontation.
Narrating her experience, Weinman said she was questioned and passed a breath-test administered by the cops, then “asked them don’t they have something better to do”. This prompted one cop to respond: “I was gonna let you go but now I’ll write you up.”
Weinman said she refused to give the cop her name and was “cautiously” backing away when “I tripped and fell and the cop tackled me to the ground and smashed my head into the sand.”
She added: “honestly, I can say if I took even a sip, then I would’ve gave them my information and called it a day; I’m underage, so I know better.
“But this whole situation was handled wrongly and blew out of proportion all because these pigs didn’t do their jobs the way they were trained to do so.”
Wildwood police said on its Facebook page that Weinman faces multiple charges, including two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated assault by spitting at a police officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction and with being a minor in possession of alcohol.
An internal investigation is underway following the emergence of the video showing police brutality towards Weinman and the officers involved in the incident have been reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto says he finds the video “alarming” but doesn’t want to “rush to any judgment” until the investigation is complete.