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“As America is entrenched in the debate of excessive use of force by police officers against people of color, the Bergen County NAACP would be remise if we didn’t recognize the restraints of your officers as they averted a situation that could have resulted in serious injury or death,” Anthony Cureton wrote to Maywood Police Chief David Pegg.
Responding to the call of a man flashing a gun in Memorial Park just before 9 o’clock Monday night, Officers Walter Moussou and Christopher Nichols spotted Dubose of Hackensack riding away on a bicycle, Pegg said.
The officers stopped Dubose and ordered him off the bicycle — then spotted the gun butt and told him to raise his hands, the chief said.
Instead, he “put his hands down by his waist to adjust his falling down shorts, then raised his hands and complied with their orders to lay on the ground,” Pegg said.
Dubose also had another replica weapon in his waistband in addition to the pellet gun, the chief said.
The NAACP’s Cureton praised Pegg’s officers for their “courage and professionalism in the face of danger.”
They “displayed restraint in de-escalating the situation and not deploying force they may have been justified to use,” he said.
“The NAACP understands that an officer may encounter dangerous situation during the performance of his/her daily duties, and acknowledges that they not only protect the lives of the innocent but are also challenged in preserving theirs,” Cureton said.
“The NAACP maintains the position that the bias use of excessive force by law enforcement cannot be tolerated but also believes that the officers who perform their duties independent of personal biases should not go unrecognized.”
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