New Jersey campus police struggled to arrest a 27-year-old college student for more than seven minutes, pepper spraying him in the process, in a video going viral, never once providing probable cause, despite being asked several times.
The video begins with Brookdale Community College police trying to arrest Jeffrey Michel on a bridge while another man stands nearby openly recording.
Michel remains stiff, his hands grasping to the rail, as three cops try to handcuff him. He repeatedly asks the reason for his arrest, but they remain vague, accusing him of “obstructing of identification” and “resisting arrest.”
Eventually more cops arrive and one cop ends up pepper spraying him and they eventually handcuff him, but they never state the reason for his arrest.
Police remained vague even after a local news site called them.
According to Red Bank Green:
The circumstances of the arrest, however, remain unclear. Neither Michel nor Cordero, also a Freehold resident, could be reached for immediate comment.
A call to the Brookdale campus police office was referred to the college’s media relations office, which sent redbankgreen this statement:
“Brookdale student Jeffrey Michel, 27, was being placed under arrest by Brookdale police officers on Nov. 14 as the result of an ongoing investigation. He was charged with harassment, obstruction, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has been notified and is conducting an investigation. We are fully cooperating with the investigation and, as a result, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The video was apparently recorded by a man named Victor Cordero, who posted it on his Youtube channel with the following description:
Police brutality is a growing epidemic in this country. An innocent student Jeffrey Michel who came to campus at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft New Jersey to do nothing but study for his education in nursing to help provide for his 2 year old daughter, was harassed and unlawfully arrested and never once read his rights. Please share this video to open as many eyes as you can and to help protect the rights our forefathers fought so vigorously to attain. Just because you have a badge and a gun it does not give you the right to harass innocent citizens in the “land of the FREE”.
The cops allowed him to record, but became a little aggressive towards the end when one of them got into his face and chased him away.
