A COP has been charged with assault after he appeared to pepper spray two young black men who were sitting on a front porch last week. Ryan Dubiel, of the Woodlynne Police Department in New Jersey, responded to a call on June 4 about people smoking weed and loitering. The 31-year-old cop was filmed approaching […]
A COP has been charged with assault after he appeared to pepper spray two young black men who were sitting on a front porch last week.
Ryan Dubiel, of the Woodlynne Police Department in New Jersey, responded to a call on June 4 about people smoking weed and loitering.
The 31-year-old cop was filmed approaching a group of young men sitting on the front porch of a house.
Dubiel asked the men what their names were, and some didn’t say.
But, the Camden County Prosecutor’s office said in a news release that the video showed those on the steps “were not observed physically resisting or attempting to harm others or themselves.”
“My friend said he was going to call his brother and the officer said no,” James Horn, 16, told WPVI. “But his brother is his guardian so he said he was going to call him anyway.”
“And then the officer started pepper spraying everybody on the porch,” Horn said.
The officer said to them as he seemingly sprayed: “You guys want to play games? You want to play games?”
“My body was on fire, I could barely see,” Horn said. “My whole body was very, very hot.”
Horn and his 20-year-old friend were cited for underage tobacco violations.
The prosecutor’s office said Dubiels’ actions were “not consistent with the State of New Jersey use-of-force policy.”
Dubiel was charged on Wednesday with two counts of simple assault “after he allegedly used Oleoresin Capsicum spray, more commonly known as OC spray, on two individuals without provocation.”
He’s been suspended without pay from the police department — where he’s worked for 10 months.
Prosecutors said Woodlynne is the ninth police department where Dubiel has worked as an officer.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement Dubiel’s alleged actions were a “completely unjustified use of force.”
“This officer, who has worked for nine different police departments, is a strong example of why we need a statewide licensing program for police officers — a proposal that I initiated and that I will strongly support when it is presented later this month to the Police Training Commission.”
“Just as we license doctors, nurses, and lawyers, we must ensure that all officers meet baseline standards of professionalism, and that officers who fail to meet those standards cannot be passed from one police department to another while posing a threat to the public and other officers,” the attorney general said.
