Black Activists Halt Rally For Teen Cuffed In Viral Video At Bridgewater Mall

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Before a rally for 8th grader Z'Kye Husain could even begin, a group of Black activists began yelling and halted the event outside of the Bridgewater Township Police Station on Wednesday afternoon. (See the video below)

The press conference and rally on Wednesday was to feature nationally-known civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, who did not show up. A request for comment about Sharpton was not immediately returned to Patch.

Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Husain's family, also came to speak. He is also known for representing the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, and Breonna Taylor.

A group of Black activists took center stage before the rally began and started accusing Sharpton and Crump of being opportunists.

"All of them are millionaires, they are not staying in our communities, why are we listening to them? They don't speak for me," said one activist.

The shouting got so disruptive, Crump, Husain's family and others were forced inside the Bridgewater Municipal building.

"Bridgewater Administrator Mike Pappas met with Mr. Crump and granted his request. Mr. Crump, his client, members of the media and several others were admitted to the building to conduct a press conference, which ended approximately 45 minutes later," according to Bridgewater Township.

The conference resumed inside with limited attendance.

Bridgewater Police were outside the meeting room in the hallway due to the crowd.

"Bridgewater Township would like to thank our police officers for securing the building. Furthermore, we deeply appreciate the patience of our residents who were attempting to enter the building to conduct municipal business, and that of our employees who were working to serve them," said the township.

Crump did not address the disruption outside prior to the media meeting and left after the meeting through the back to avoid the crowd.

The conference addressed a viral video showing a fight between a light-skinned teen and Husain at the Bridgewater Commons mall. The video also shows township police officers kneeling on and handcuffing the Black teen while the white teen is left sitting on a couch. Read More: Cops Criticized After Stopping Teen Fight At Bridgewater Mall

See the mall video here.

"This video gave us ocular proof there is no way to distinguish it. Police in a split second saw a white kid on top of a Black kid and made the determination that the white kid was presumed innocent and the Black kid was presumed guilty," said Crump.

Crump noted that Husain's mother, Ebony, told him that when she saw the video it made her think back to George Floyd.

Husain's father, Jihad, who is a veteran in the military said his son was a good kid who loves to help the people in his community.

"We go to grandma's house every weekend, mow the lawn. He is a great kid and the way the cops treated him was as if he was a bad kid," said Jihad. "I don’t support that. I was in the military I fought for equality. This is not justice. This is not equality."

Crump said his group is contemplating filing a federal civil rights lawsuit based on "his fourth amendment rights being infringed upon based on unreasonable search and seizure. And obviously equal protection."

"I feel like I shouldn't be lucky that I wasn't hurt or killed by people who promise to protect us," said Z'Kye. "And that's why we are here today to change that. To not be lucky to be treated like animals."

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