Man Pummeled By Off-Duty Jersey City Cop In Hoboken: Police

HOBOKEN, NJ — A pair of men – one of them an off-duty cop in Jersey City – allegedly pummeled a victim and left him with serious head trauma in Hoboken earlier this week. The beating drew a huge crowd of onlookers and resulted in aggravated assault charges for the two men, authorities said.

According to the Hoboken Police Department, officers responded to the area of 1st and River streets around 2:56 a.m. on Sunday, where a crowd of 40 people had gathered in the street and on the sidewalk. The officers found an unconscious man lying on the ground and bleeding from a cut under his eye.

As a Hoboken officer and multiple bystanders tended to the victim, police attempted to disperse the crowd. They then turned their attention to the two alleged attackers, Erik Castro, 24, a Jersey City police officer, and Kely Nunfio, 24, also of Jersey City.

Both men remained at the scene of the alleged assault. Castro allegedly told officers that he hit the victim, authorities said.

Witnesses on the scene told officers that Castro and Nunfio both struck the victim several times, knocking him out. The two then continued to beat the unconscious man as he lay on the ground, witnesses told police.

The victim suffered “serious head trauma” from the assault and was transported to the Jersey City Medical Center Trauma Unit, authorities said.

Police charged Castro and Nunfio with aggravated assault. Castro was released on a summons and Nunfio was remanded to the Hudson County Rehabilitation Center, authorities said.

Castro had been on the Jersey City police force for a little more than a year at the time of the incident and has been suspended without pay, NJ.com reported.

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