Man Calls 911 After Car Catches Fire, Police Respond & Mace Him In The Face

Chris | InformationLiberation
Aug. 20, 2012

A man called 911 to report his car was on fire, police responded by macing him in the face and allegedly "savagely" beating him until he lost consciousness. A bystander filming the event was threatened and ordered to leave the scene, and the police took multiple steps to shield their actions from public view.

NJ.com reports:

Rios filed a federal lawsuit last month saying that police came to his house on Aug. 29, 2010, after he called 911 to report that his car was on fire.

A video obtained by The Jersey Journal of some of what transpired shows a verbal exchange between Rios and police officers after the flames had been extinguished.

It shows Rios walking away from the cops when an officer follows him and appears to spray him in the back of the head with what the lawsuit says was pepper spray.

The video then shows the 35-year-old turning and pointing at the officer, and the officer grabbing Rios’ wrist and spraying him in the face.

Two other officers help bring Rios to the ground and handcuff him with no visible sign of resistance.

The video shows Rios being frisked at the open door of a police car when he turns, says something to the officers, and is yanked by the arm and placed on the pavement, out of view of the camera.

In the lawsuit, Rios’ lawyer, Joel Silberman of Jersey City, alleges Rios’ face struck the pavement and the officers “savagely assaulted him until he lost consciousness.”

Note how the police in the video below take multiple steps to shield their actions from public view, including threatening the man filming the incident. As Tim Lynch notes, "the police take three steps to conceal their actions from impartial bystanders/witnesses: (1) 'Go inside with the camera,' orders one; (2) the fire truck is moved to block the view of the people watching across the street; (3) next, after noticing that the bystanders can still see Rios from another angle, police move the squad car so they can no longer see Rios."

Watch the video for yourself, Jason Rios could not have been more submissive and compliant.

"Public Safety Director" Jason O’Donnell says, despite reports to the contrary, there is no "internal investigation" taking place into whether this was an act of police brutality.

Of course, even if there was, it would be the police investigating themselves, so why bother with the formality?
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Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.