A police department in New Jersey is investigating cases of “brutal and uncontrolled” force and “lawbreaking” searches in the arrests of four Black Lives Matter activists through the weekend.
A Black Excellence rally was taking place to support the Black Lives Matter movement in Englewood on Saturday afternoon, where the argumentative incident happened.
According to the Ridgewood for Black Liberation, four protesters said that as they were marching, they saw a fight that was not connected to the activists.
As stated by the fundraiser for their legal fees, they took it upon themselves to break up the fight and continued on their way. The Bergen County Sheriff and Englewood Police department savagely attacked and arrested Ainsworth Minott, who is the community organizer and leader, activist Victor Urbaez, his father Victor Urbaez, and his mother, Jenness Torres.
The group claims that Minott was hospitalized after being severely beaten, and the police supposedly illegally took Urbaez’s phone and went through, even calling his girlfriend accidentally.
A video was recorded and uploaded on Twitter; in the video, it was shown that two activists after an uptight encounter were thrown to the ground by police officers.
Chief of Police Lawrence Suffern reported that most of the activists told that the members had detoured from the rally to break up the fight, which was not related to the demonstration.
The Chief said as the officers arrived that there has been a confrontation between the rally’s activists and law enforcement. Ensuing the confirmation four people were put under arrest.
It was uncertain how the fight escalated considering that the video does not show the police officers arriving.
The Chief added that accusations of excessive force are taken very seriously, and the local internal affairs will analyze and investigate it.
As claimed by the Bergen County Prosecutors Office, which oversees the department, the case was referred to the Confidential Investigations Unit for investigation.