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Marco Basualdo Jr., 18, was trying to catch up to two of his friends after the trio cut through a playground one night late last week. The two friends had bolted from him, then briefly ducked into a parked jitney bus before running down 7th Street, his father said.
The next thing he knew, a city police officer on a bicycle pulled up.
“My son and 2 friends were on their way home at 1:30 a.m. [April 13] when one friend saw a dollar bus open and decided to go in clowing around,” the elder Basualdo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “[Then] the two friends came out and started to run.
“He thought maybe they were racing home, so he decided to follow but got tired and started jogging. The two friends were gone when the officer on the bike told him to stop.”
The rest of the incident is caught on a surveillance recording that the owner of a nearby business gave the elder Basualdo a copy, which has been shown to police.
“He went to the floor and the officer dragged him and hit him,” Basualdo Sr. told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He handcuffed him, [then was] kneeing him that he was running out of air.
“Witnesses told us they came out of their house and started yelling at the officer to ‘get off him, you’re gonna kill him,’ but the officer yelled at them to get back in the house or [they’ll] be arrested.”
“One of the police officers that finally arrived at the scene lifted my son off the ground and told him ‘I saw what he did.’My son was crying, while the officer that beat him bragged and laughed about it.
“This officer is a husky man,” the father continued. “I thank God he didn’t kill him.”
To see the video, along with the official city response, go to: Teen says police roughed him up (Fox5News)
The senior Basualdo, 38, said a reporter at Channel 41 showed the video to Union City Police Chief Charles Everett and was promised that the incident would be investigated.
Neither the chief nor Mayor Brian Stack has returned a message left Monday by CLIFFVIEW PILOT regarding the incident, which ended with the younger Basualdo charged with resisting arrest and eluding. Another message was left this morning, and an extensive email request for a response was sent to both Stack and Everett.
The irony, his father said, is that Basualdo Jr. wants to be a cop. He is studying criminal justice at Lincoln Tech in Paramus.
“My son is not a trouble-making boy,” the father said. “He finished high school and is continuing school to become an officer to protect and serve the people.
“If he has a criminal record, he can’t become a police officer.”
Basualdo Jr. was released without bail from headquarters after the incident, then was treated at Christ Hospital for bruises on his face. He had a court appearance Tuesday morning in Jersey City, where a Superior Court judge sent the case to Municipal Court in Union City.
His father, meanwhile, has retained a lawyer as he considers his options.
“Like I said, I just want the charges to be dropped,” Marco Basualdo Sr. told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He didn’t do anything, and I have proof.”
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