Videos Show Crowd Angry At Cops As South Jersey Man Has Seizure

A group of people grew increasingly angry at the ambulance response time after a man had a seizure in the parking lot of a South Jersey store, and then repeatedly screamed and taunted police officers on Father's Day as they waited, authorities said.

Videos from the scene posted on Facebook, including one from Pleasantville police, contain graphic material and are shown below. Viewer discretion advised.

In one part of a bystander's video, a police officer is yelling "back up" at the crowd while pointing his K-9 unit dog toward the people. A man can be heard yelling back, "A man's down, bro."

The confrontation happened at approximately 3:55 p.m. when Pleasantville patrol units responded to King’s Food Market at 141 North Main Street, where they found the unidentified manhaving a seizure. Patrol units responded, arrived on location and requested that EMS respond.

Police evaluated the victim and determined that he had a seizure and was bleeding from the mouth, police said.

A group of eight adults were surrounding the victim with some attempting to render aid and others clearly distraught, police said. At that time, the officers requested that bystanders step back to allow them to attend to the victim, and the majority of the bystanders complied.

Several men did not comply and immediately became belligerent toward the officers and were ordered from the area, police said. Additional Pleasantville units responded to the scene.

Later, the crowd had grown on both sides of the scene and continued to become more agitated, police said. The Pleasantville officers said they were quickly outnumbered 2 to 1 by the crowd.

A request for additional officers was made by Pleasantville Communications and units from Absecon and Egg Harbor Township responded to the scene to assist with crowd control and scene safety, police said.

At one point, several people began to verbally berate the officers, and a man attempted to physically interfere with care of the victim, police said. The crowd throughout the incident was verbally belligerent to all the officers and continuously attempted to taunt the officers into a confrontation, police said.

“We, the officers and staff of the Pleasantville Police Department, take our duty to protect and serve our community as a sacred trust. We will not allow our officers to ignore this trust, ever. And, on June 17, Father’s Day, our officers did exactly what we expect them to do and upheld that trust. They kept an angry group at bay, without arresting or fighting an unnecessarily hostile crowd, and then disregarded their own safety to carry the patient to the ambulance while a hostile stood by and berated police without cause," said Chief Sean Riggin.

"In the coming days we will work with the city’s EMS provided to review and evaluate the contract and ensure Pleasantville’s residents are afforded the care they deserve. But today, I stand proudly behind my officers who were confronted by a crowd who seemed eager to engage in a confrontation with police over an issue the officers cannot control, ambulance response time. I’m disappointed that all the hard work of these officers to engage in our community is thrown aside by a few reckless individuals who seemed determined to fight police or start a riot. The officers did a professional job in spite of the actions of several who sought to create a dangerous and chaotic environment and I am proud of them."

The first video has no audio. The second video contains graphic footage and language. Viewer discretion advised:

Pleasantville police photo