Bridgewater To Serve As Example, Turn Viral Mall Video Into Racial Justice Lesson

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A viral video of a Black teen's being handcuffed at the mall put Bridgewater on the map for all of the wrong reasons. Now township and Somerset County officials are making it their mission to use this as a platform to make positive changes and serve as an example for other communities in dealing with social justice.

"Bridgewater you are international. But you can use this opportunity to be international for a totally different reason. You can take this leap forward and show all the police departments that you can recover from this," said Community Activist Tormel Pittman.

Bridgewater held a Community Conversation on Thursday night for residents to speak with Mayor Matthew Moench, Somerset County Commissioner Director Shanel Robinson, Police Chief Paul Payne, Pastor David Hobbs of Macedonia Baptist Church, New Brunswick NAACP President Bruce Morgan, Community Police Liasion Dameon Stackhouse, former Bridgewater Police Sgt. Art Atkins, and Pittman.

The meeting was to allow residents an opportunity to discuss a viral video showing Bridgewater Police's handling of a teen mall fight that raised questions of racial disparity.

The viral video shows a fight between two teens at the Bridgewater Commons mall with township police officers kneeling on and handcuffing the Black teen while the light-skinned teen is left sitting on a couch.

The room was filled with people of all races speaking openly and emotionally about what they saw in the video.

"When I saw the video I was and I still am outraged, completely outraged at what happened. First of all, these are children. This is how our law enforcement officers in Bridgewater are treating our children. And the disparate treatment is outrageous as well," said Bridgewater resident Donna Hendrickson.

“When I saw the video I was, and I am still, completely outraged. First of all, these are children. I will repeat that, these are children! This is how the law enforcement officers in BW are treating our children?? And the disparate treatment of the two teens is outrageous.”

"If this had taken place in a cafeteria, a teacher would have walked in the room and said 'Cut it out and there would have been no tackling, no handcuffing required," said Bridgewater resident Carrie Brookner. "I take issue as a parent of young adults. These young adults and teenagers know about systematic racism, they've grown up with this and they did not take several weeks like Mayor Moench to contemplate whether something was wrong with the video. They knew immediately from watching that video that this was terrible."

"There is nothing respectful about the scuffle how it was handled… it was a complete embarrassment to the community," said Bridgewater resident Mark. "This is your chance and we are counting on you to do the right thing for our community."

"My grandson, the youngest, is afraid of white police officers. Why is that? I hope we look at ourselves," said Lorraine Allen of Somerville.

"Coming off of the back of George Floyd... And coming here and seeing another knee and then see another knee on a young man," said Cuqui Rivera of New Brunswick who is with the Latino Action Network. "This is not OK."

Many shared their personal experiences noting that racism is a long-standing issue not just in the township but the nation that needs to be addressed now, especially with the children.

Stackhouse said that in 8th grade in Bridgewater-Raritan schools he was called the "N-word."

"That was my first experience with racism," said Stackhouse.

Pittman added that growing up he would never get into a car with four other people because it is considered a gang and they never wore hats in the car to avoid being pulled over by police.

"If we get pulled over we don’t know if we are going to survive," said Pittman.

Some asked the community for patience before casting judgment on the officers in the video.

"These officers deserve a fair trial, we are not the judge and jury of that video," said one woman, who did not give her name.

"Please, please do not paint the entire police department with a broad brush. We have good officers working in this industry. We have officers who care. We owe those who have had many experiences," said Atkins.

Overall the meeting ended with applause and the common goal of working together to weed out racism.

"We have to do better," said Robinson.

Steve Young with the National Action Network South Jersey chapter offered his help to work with the township to heal relationships.

"This could be a role model for the rest of the country," said Young.

Robinson and Moench noted they are working on a real plan to make changes versus just talking about it.

"I want to know who is with us for the solution? For the long haul? We have been dealing with these issues for far too long. Let’s get it done and stop giving the lip service," said Robinson.

Moench noted that irrespective of what the outcome of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office investigation the township is committed to bringing in an outside consultant to look at the police.

"They are accredited but that doesn’t mean we can’t do better," said Moench.

"Growth is impossible in a vacuum, and it takes meetings like this to move forward together as a community," said Moench in a statement. "We can only overcome our differences if we acknowledge them first."

Payne also welcomed the community to speak with him at any time.

"It was a lot for me to take in and it's noted. I am speaking from the heart here... if you want to talk to me, call me," said Payne. "I beat to a different drum as a chief. I answer to you. I am here for you. I report to you."

Stackhouse said after watching the video and discussing it with Payne is why he continues to work with the police.

"I just watched it without sound and took 10 minutes before I said a word to the chief. What I said was, 'Take race out of it. If your child is the one being handcuffed, how do you feel right now?' That emotion is why we are working as hard as we are," said Stackhouse.

Stackhouse said he is in this for the long haul and when he is finished with Bridgewater he will move onto the next community.

"Everyone will come here and say, 'Hey how’d you do it?'" said Stackhouse. "Bridgewater is going to be the best. We are B-R... We are B-R through the good and the bad."

Related articles:

• Black Activists Halt Rally For Teen Arrested At Bridgewater Mall
• Protestors Gather In Bridgewater Against Racial Injustice
• Black Teen Must Pay For Damage Caused By Bridgewater Police: Mom
• George Floyd Family Attorney Hired By Black Teen In NJ Mall Fight
• Cops Criticized After Stopping Teen Fight At Bridgewater Mall

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