Pleasantville Police Issue Response to Video [VIDEO]
Pleasantville Police have issued a statement responding to a video posted on the internet Sunday, even releasing a video of their own, showing an entirely different angle of their response to a situation Sunday afternoon.
The original video, which can be seen here, is filled with profanities from a group of bystanders to a medical emergency outside a Pleasantville store.
A video from the Pleasantville Police Department which doesn't seem to have sound, shows the incident with a different angle. This video definitely shows a number of people attempt to interfere with police's care of the victim.
The new video is from Pleasantville police is from the police department's Facebook page:
Here's is the entire statement from police:
Belligerent Crowd triggers Multi Jurisdictional Police Response
On Sunday June 17, 2018 at approximately 3:55pm Pleasantville Patrol Units responded to King’s Food Market at 141 North Main Street for the report of a disturbance with a male down possibly having a seizure. Patrol units responded, arrived on location and requested EMS respond within 28 seconds of the initial police dispatch. Patrol immediately made contact with the victim and ascertained that he had a seizure and was bleeding from the mouth. Patrolman Ledden began to interact and assess the victim placing him in the recovery position to await EMS. Pleasantville Communications acknowledged this information and subsequently, within approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds, advised that Absecon EMS and AtlantiCare Paramedics were responding. Upon the officers arrival a group of 8 adults, 7 males and 1 female were surrounding the victim with some attempting to render aid and others clearly distraught. 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 males did not comply and immediately became belligerent toward the officers and were ordered from the area with the assistance of K-9 Sergeant Brandon Stocks and his K9 partner. At that time Sgt. Stocks requested additional Pleasantville units respond to the scene. The initial non-compliant males moved to the north side of the parking lot and continued to verbally berate the officers and incite other bystanders to join the crowd. At this point the crowd had grown on both sides of the scene, continued to become more agitated and the Pleasantville officers, of which there were only 6 working, 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. At one point during the incident several additional male subjects and a female approached the area of the victim and also began to verbally berate the officers with a male at one point attempting to physically interfere with care of the victim. Sergeant Stocks requested the ETA of EMS several times during the incident and requested an expedited response. The crowd throughout the incident is verbally belligerent to all of the officers and continuously attempts to taunt the officers into a confrontation coming within inches of several officers. All of the officer’s exercised professionalism and restraint. Minimal force was used including the presence of the K9, minimal physical contact and an indirect burst of Oleoresin Capsicum spray used to back up the group interfering with the care of the patient. In addition, though several violations occurred which clearly rose to the level that exposed the actors to arrest, officers exercised discretion to avoid worsening the situation. The ambulance arrived approximately 13 minutes into the incident and the officers then carried the victim to the ambulance to expedite and secure his removal from the scene. The Pleasantville Police Department wishes to thank the Egg Harbor Township and Absecon Police Departments for their assistance.
See below quote from Chief Sean Riggin:
“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.
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”.