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Surveillance video shows Roger Then, 29, of Paterson pushing the victim to the ground after a fellow city officer punched him in the face while he was sitting in a wheelchair in a hallway at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center on March 5, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Moments earlier, the victim apparently threw some type of object down the hall, he said.
A second video, shot by Then, shows the victim on his back in a hospital bed.
The victim insults the first officer, who "puts on a pair of hospital gloves and violently strikes the victim twice across the face," Carpenito said.He then stood over the victim and says, 'I ain’t f**cking playing with you',” the U.S. attorney said.
A report filed by the first officer doesn't mention the assaults, which left the victim with an eye injury that required surgery and several facial injuries, Carpenito said.
As a result of these assaults, the victim suffered multiple injuries to his face, including an eye injury that required surgery.
Then was due for a hearing Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Newark.
Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI with the arrest and thanked the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, Paterson police and the city department's Office of Internal Affairs for their assistance in the investigation.
Handling the prosecution is Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal, deputy chief of Carpenito's Criminal Division.
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AMBER ALERT BABY RETURNED: Authorities canceled an Amber Alert for a 10-month-old Paterson boy who they said was abducted after his father kicked in the front door of the child's mother's home, punched her in the face and fled with the youngster Wednesday morning.
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