Five officers are seen wrestling a black man to the ground in a video filmed on Jenkinson’s Boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey on Sunday. The witness who filmed the incident said the police surrounded him and pinned him to the ground because he had an open beer.
Wrote the woman, who identifies herself as Nia, on Instagram: “During times like these it’s so important that we all look out for each other and help one another identify SAFE and UNSAFE spaces for us. Yesterday my family & I tried to go to Point Pleasant Beach & were met with so much hostility & resistance. First, upon our arrival we were told we wouldn’t be allowed on the beach without wristbands, but that wristbands were done being sold for the day, so we’d have to just leave. We drove over an hour to get there so naturally, I walked on the beach anyway. Immediately a frantic Karen was sent after me, screaming at me that I needed to get off the sand, saying she was calling security and begins describing me into her walkie talkie.”
“Instead of escalating it, I just walked off the beach,” Nia continued. “We decided we would grab food and then head to a different beach. While waiting for our food we watched 5 cops surround one man and talk to him for what seemed like an extended period of time. They stopped him for publicly drinking. One had a ticket book out & I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t just write him a ticket and send him on his way. After about 15 minutes of him being surrounded, he finally tells them he’s just trying to get home, and they begin to use excessive force and now say he’s resisting arrest. Without actually having a reason to arrest him, when all they really had to do was issue him a ticket.”
“THEN we head to our car just attempting to get OUT of there, and two more cops stop us literally 10 feet from our vehicle. One of us was holding a beer (the same reason the man got stopped earlier), so they ask for his ID and name and try to run his information. When nothing comes up for him, they call at least 6 more backup cops, though we’re literally feet from our car and all we want to do is leave peacefully. I can’t help but think the way our situation could have been identical to what happened to the man before us, seeing as how we were stopped for the same reason. The amount of police presence on that beach was INSANE, in the hour we were there I saw at least 25 cops, all strapped, all looking for something to make their day more interesting. #BOYCOTTPOINTPLEASANT as it is not safe for us there.”
