Editor’s Note: If you read the below item and think to yourself, “This stinks like yesterday’s fish wrap” you’re not alone. Check out my editorial commentary on this matter by clicking here.
By Police1 Staff
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Video was released on Monday of an officer-involved shooting of a 19-year-old man in New Jersey.
The release coincides with the filing of a federal lawsuit against the City of New Brunswick and Middlesex County by the attorneys representing Victor Rodriguez, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
The lawsuit claims the use of excessive force by New Brunswick police officers that in turn has rendered Rodriquez a paraplegic.
The suit also says Rodriguez’s “U.S. Constitutional rights and state civil rights were violated and the officers were improperly trained and supervised in the proper use of force and techniques.”
The footage was reportedly first posted to YouTube and the NewBrunswickToday.com website by Charlie Kratovil, a local political activist also on the ballot in the upcoming City Council election. It was captured by a nearby security camera and includes audio from the police radio transmissions.
According to reports, the shooting followed an altercation between two other individuals in which Rodriquez allegedly brandished and fired a “starter’s pistol” — apparently modeled after a Beretta 9mm — while attempting to break up the skirmish.
In addition to the city and county, the complaint names the New Brunswick Police Department, Mayor Jim Cahill, Officers Andrew Weiss and Christopher Bornheimer, Police Director Anthony Caputo, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department, and Middlesex County Sheriff Mildred S. Scott as defendants.
Police Director Anthony Caputo said the clip does not show the events leading up to what was captured within the framework of the released video.