Carteret Police Officer Indicted For Beating Teen, Prosecutors Say

CARTERET, NJ — A Carteret police officer — who is also the mayor's brother — was indicted last Thursday, Sept. 28 for assaulting and causing significant bodily injury to a teenager during an arrest. That's the teen above, in a photo released by his family, who asked the media to widely share it.

Carteret Police Officer Joseph Reiman, 31, was charged with one count of aggravated assault in the third degree and three counts of official misconduct in the second degree for assaulting the teenager, failing to
activate his body-worn camera, and failing to use reasonable discretion or restraint in the amount of force used to apprehend the teenager, Middlesex County prosecutors announced last week. Officer Reiman is the brother of Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman, who showed cautious support for his brother when he was first arrested in June, in this Facebook post, urging the public not to "scapegoat" his brother.

Related: Carteret Police Officer Charged With Beating Of Teen

The investigation determined that on May 31, while on official duty and in a patrol car, Officer Reiman was pursuing a teenage driver, who then crashed his car into a utility pole guide wire; the airbags deployed. The teen is 16 and under the legal driving age in New Jersey. After the teenager exited his vehicle, Officer Reiman, while on top of the teen, punched the teen several times with a closed fist, Middlesex County prosecutors says. Following the assault, an ambulance was not called to the scene. Instead, the teenager was placed in a patrol car.

The boy's family said he was a victim of police brutality. Reiman was placed on restrictive duty after his arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Zebib of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-4274, or Capt. Dammann of the Carteret Police Department at (732) 541-3898.