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Officers Kevin Patino, 29, surrendered to federal agents Tuesday morning and was expected to be followed by Kendry Tineo-Restituyo, 28, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
Both are charged with “depriving a victim of his Constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers and with filing a false police report,” Honig said.
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IN ADDITION: Passaic County’s prosecutor on Tuesday took control of the Paterson Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division.
SEE: Passaic County Prosecutor Takes Over Paterson PD Internal Affairs Unit
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Patino and Tineo-Restituyo approached Osamah Alsaidi, who was walking with his hands in his pockets, the night of Dec. 14, the U.S. attorney said.
What they didn’t know was that area surveillance cameras were recording (see below).
“Patino grabbed hold of the victim,” Honig said. “When the victim attempted to separate himself, Patino struck the victim in the face and body numerous times.
“While Patino was striking the victim, Tineo-Restituyo picked the victim up and threw him to the ground. Patino and Tineo-Restituyo then repeatedly struck the victim while he was on the ground.”
Patino and Tineo-Restituyo filed a bogus police report about the incident, Honig said.
For instance, it said Alsaidi approached the officers “screaming profanities” and “acting belligerent” and then punched Patino in the chest.
“None of this was true,” Honing said.
The report also didn’t say that they punched Alsaidi as he lay on the ground, she said.
“These officers came out of nowhere to block me from walking and beat me up on my own block,” Alsaidi said earlier this year in describing the unprovoked attack.
“Then [another officer] assaults me at the hospital away from cameras and people to avoid witnesses,” he said.
Alsaidi, who was diagnosed with head trauma and a concussion, said he was “walking on my block towards my car to go to work” in the area of 1245 Madison Avenue around 12:30 a.m. when a city police car “pulled over to block me from walking with their car.”
The two officers “came out of the car and started punching me for no reason,” Alsaidi said.
After throwing him down, he said, “they kept smashing my head on the ground, causing me to black out for a moment.”
They arrested him and charged him with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, Alsaidi said in February.
Another officer “took me to the hospital and I told the nurse how I got my injuries,” he said.
Alsaidi said he was discharged before his injuries could be treated. An officer then “punched me, threw me into the car, and slammed the door,” he said.
“After I was released, I had to go to the hospital on my own and I was diagnosed with head trauma and concussion (I have the papers from the hospital). I was having migraines and was partially blind for the next couple of weeks.”
Patino and Tineo- Restituyo “wrote a false police report stating that I went up to these officers and punched Patino in the chest and caused him to fall back,” Alsaidi said. “They also wrote that I grabbed Patino’s vest and tried to take his police radio and Tineo came and arrested me.
“The video shows the truth, it shows what actually happened.”
“I was 19 at the time and have no criminal record. I was humiliated and treated like an animal. I thought they were going to kill me at the police station,” Alsaidi said. “I can’t even walk IN MY OWN TOWN without being afraid these cops will attack me again.”
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s office began investigating the incident before it was handed over to federal authorities.
“Police officers should hold themselves to the highest possible standards,” Honig said. “These two defendants did not do that.
“Assaulting a suspect and then falsifying official police reports to cover it up can never be tolerated,” she added. “These are criminal acts by defendants who should know better.”
Honig credited special agents of the FBI, the state Attorney General’s Office, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and the North Jersey Public Corruption Task Force, composed of members of FBI and New Jersey State Police with the investigation leading to the charges.
Handling the case for the government was Senior Civil Rights Counsel Joseph Gribko of Honig’s Criminal Division in Newark.
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