Two New Jersey police officers who allegedly assaulted an Arab American teenager and then lied about it on a police report are facing civil rights and obstruction of justice charges.
"Police officers who abuse their positions to exert power over and injure the citizens they are supposed to protect violate our Constitution and erode trust in our public institutions," said acting U.S. Attorney Honig in a statement.
Officers Kevin Patino, 29, and Kendry Tineo-Restituyo, 28, of the Paterson Police Department face charges that they deprived Osamah Alsaidi, then 19, of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The incident was captured on surveillance video, which was shared in a Facebook post on February 12, and shows the officers approach Alsaidi before both of them immediately start striking Alsaidi in the head.
Patino and Tineo-Restituyo turned themselves in to authorities on Tuesday and have both been released on $50,000 bond, provided that they both surrender all travel documents and firearms. Patino has been ordered to undergo mental health testing. Neither of them have entered a plea.
"We understand that this is just the first step in obtaining justice for Mr. Alsaidi, but it is an important one -- the fact that detectives, agents and prosecutors who investigated this believe they have enough evidence to try the officers on these charges," Alsaidi's attorneys Diego Navas and Akram Alsaidi said in a statement. "We are also very mindful of the importance of the video in this case as a jury does not have to decide who to believe -- the victim or the officer -- they can see it for themselves."
Alsaidi, who was walking to his 1 a.m. shift at Amazon when the incident occurred, sustained head trauma, a concussion and multiple cuts and bruises, as well as anxiety, stress and depression as a result of the attack, according to his attorneys.
The officers were responding to a call of a "suspicious person," according to a criminal complaint.
According to a press release from the New Jersey US Attorney's Office, "the police report falsely stated that the victim had walked towards the officers 'screaming profanities' and 'acting belligerent' and that the victim had struck Patino with a closed fist in the chest. None of this was true."
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