Bodycam footage shows Trenton cops taunting, manhandling 64-year-old grandfather who later died

3 years ago
51

Keep me motivated by donating to https://paypal.me/thisisbutter

Viewer discretion is always advised when watching this video or any others videos. I do not take any responsibility to your trauma, psychological and/or mental harm.

I do not recommend anyone to attempt, act/reproduce, and/or create hate from what you see in this video or any other videos.

Enjoy.
--------------------
The fateful encounter was dominated by trash talk.

“I’m getting my mask, because I’m thinking you’ve got the coronavirus,” a Trenton Police officer said during an argument with a person who called 9-1-1.

“You talking in the window like you retarded,” the officer said before unholstering his service weapon, adding he would be willing to shoot a dog in self-defense.

“Put that gun away, man,” Joseph Ahr Sr., a 64-year-old grandfather, told the officer after the cops said they wanted to arrest his son on a warrant.

The son called 9-1-1 earlier in the day following a domestic dispute with his baby’s mother.

After arguing with the son, the officer quarreled with the elder Ahr, asking whether he wanted to go to “crisis” for psychiatric help.

Trenton Police in this infamous dust-up last summer used constructive authority, physical force and pepper spray on the 64-year-old grandfather who later died at the hospital, according to newly released body-worn camera footage.

“I can’t breathe, for real,” Ahr says during his arrest. “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.”

The fatal incident remains under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, but the state Attorney General’s Office finally released the bodycam videos last Thursday in response to The Trentonian’s Open Public Records Act request.

As previously reported by The Trentonian, at least five city cops used force on Ahr about 5 p.m. Monday, July 6, 2020, on the 700 block of Monmouth Street in Trenton’s East Ward.

After being manhandled and subjected to chemical agent pepper spray, Ahr was arrested and charged with obstruction and resisting. He had no weapon on him during the incident, according to the Trenton Police Department’s use-of-force reports. He died about three weeks later in the hospital on July 24, 2020, the AG’s Office confirmed.

Robin Lord, a family attorney, alleges Trenton Police killed Ahr and calls for swift accountability in this case after viewing all of the bodycam videos.

“It’s terrible. It’s horrible,” Lord told The Trentonian on Saturday. “They decide to throw him down. They throw him down in the middle of the steps; then they mace him. It was very disturbing to see.”

Lord called upon New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to properly present this case to a grand jury for an indictment, not a “no-bill” dismissal.

“They will be held accountable,” Lord said of the officers involved. “Obviously we are hoping they are held accountable criminally and civilly.”

The AG’s Office identified the officers involved as Jeffrey Donaire, Kozell Hodges, Cornell Huff, Bryan Kirk, Angel Pena, Nicholas Piotrowski, Glendy Quijada, Yajaira Torres and Acting Sgt. Rosemarie Addar.

Officer Piotrowski used pepper spray on Ahr, while Officers Quijada, Kirk and Hodges used compliance holds on the subject, according to their use-of-force reports.

N.J. Attorney General's Office - bodycam video image
Officer Huff also filed a use-of-force report in the Ahr incident, but the UFR does not identify what force he used on the subject, according to a copy obtained by The Trentonian through an Open Public Records Act request last year.

Loading 2 comments...