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New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued a two-sentence statement confirming an investigation of the Dec. 14 incident, which he said was being conducted by his Office of Public Integrity and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
“The video shows the truth, it shows what actually happened,” Osamah Alsaidi said. “These officers came out of nowhere to block me from walking and beat me up on my own block.
“Then [another officer] assaults me at the hospital away from cameras and people to avoid witnesses.”
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.”
Officers Officers Kevin Patino and Marcos Martinez “came out of the car and started punching me for no reason,” Alsaidi said late last week.
After throwing him down, he said, “they kept smashing my head on the ground, causing me to black out for a moment.”
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They arrested him and charged him with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, Alsaidi said.
Officer Bishnu McKnight “took me to the hospital and I told the nurse how I got my injuries,” he said. “McKnight made them discharge me from the hospital before they can even look at [my] injuries.
“While trying to get back into the police car, which is hard to do with handcuffs and shackles on, McKnight punched me, threw me into the car, and slammed the door,” Alsaidi 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 Officer Kendry Tineo “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.”
“Marcos Martinez didn’t put his name on the report but he was driving the car and pulled up to me,” he added. “THE POLICE REPORT IS ALL FALSE.
“The video shows the truth, it shows what actually happened.
“These officers came out of nowhere to block me from walking and beat me up on my own block. Then Bishnu McKnight assaults me at the hospital away from cameras and people to avoid witnesses.
“I made a complaint to Internal Affairs and two months have passed and they still haven’t done anything,” Alsaidi said Friday. “I was beaten up and arrested for no reason.
“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. I can’t even walk IN MY OWN TOWN without being afraid these cops will attack me again.”
Paterson officials were withholding comment while the state and county prosecutor’s joint investigation proceeded.
Grewal, meanwhile, asked anyone who witnessed or has further relevant information about the incident -- including any videos – to contact 1-844-OPIA-TIP (1-844-674-2847).
"The disturbing video shows two officers approach and beat the youth to the ground,” said Selaedin Maksut, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“The teen posed no visible threat to either officer and was not given an opportunity to comply with the officer's orders -- assuming any orders were even given,” Maksut said. “Instead, the teen was brutalized while two additional offices came to clear the area of witnesses.
The officers “allegedly fabricated a story in their police report to cover up their assault,” he added. “Their report was proven to be false once the video surfaced almost two months later.”
Maksut called for the firing Patino and Martinez, along with an investigation into the “involvement” of Bishnu and Tineo.
"To see such a reprehensible attack happen at the hands of those who supposedly serve and protect Paterson residents is more than disheartening,” said Maksut, whose organization is America’s largest civil liberties advocate for Muslims. “It is revolting and deserving of immediate punishment.”
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