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Charges on hold for Camden man seen on video apparently beaten by Camden County cop

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Friday that criminal charges have been put on hold against an unarmed man whose beating by a county police officer last month was filmed by a Camden liquor store's surveillance camera and has been viewed thousands of times on social media.

Screen shot from surveillance video showing Camden County police allegedly beating Edward Minguela in February in Camden.
Screen shot from surveillance video showing Camden County police allegedly beating Edward Minguela in February in Camden.Read moreCourtesy of 6ABC

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Friday that criminal charges had been put on hold against an unarmed man whose apparent beating by a county police officer last month was recorded by a Camden liquor store's surveillance camera and has been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media.

"At this time, the charges against him are being stayed pending the outcome of the investigation," said Alexandra McVeigh, an office spokeswoman.

She declined to say whether Officer Nicholas Romantino was under criminal investigation for allegedly taking Edward Minguela of Camden to the ground and punching him in the back of the head about a dozen times, as depicted in the Feb. 22 video.

"The whole matter is being investigated," she said. "I cannot give out any other information pursuant to the attorney general's guidelines on Internal Affairs procedures."

The black-and-white video shows Minguela raising his hands as several uniformed officers slowly approach him with their guns drawn. They were investigating a 911 call about a man with a gun, authorities said.

After reaching Minguela, the officer identified by his lawyer as Romantino is seen apparently grabbing him from behind and slamming him to the ground. Romantino then apparently straddles Minguela and punches him repeatedly in the back of the head as two other officers appear to be holding him down.

Minguela, 32, who suffered a broken wrist, bruising, and a concussion, was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction. He was not armed.

His civil attorney, Devon M. Jacob, has demanded that the charges be dismissed and that Romantino be criminally charged.

Jacob, who said he is preparing a federal civil rights lawsuit on Minguela's behalf, wants the investigation taken over by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office or the FBI to avoid a conflict of interest with the county Prosecutor's Office investigating a complaint against the police while also prosecuting Minguela.

"As a prosecutor, you have a special duty to seek justice; not just convictions. The law does not permit you to turn a blind eye to the truth, which in this case was thankfully video-recorded," Jacob said in a letter to Assistant Prosecutor Angela M. Seixas.

"While the criminal charges remain pending against Mr. Minguela (and notably not against any of the involved officers) justice is not being served. Moreover, the decision to continue to prosecute Mr. Minguela, before the investigation has even been completed, lacks common sense."

In an interview Friday evening, Jacob said that staying the charges is not enough. "You have my guy living under the stigma of having been criminally charged, and sure, you're saying you're staying it, but you are not dismissing it when clearly there is no probable cause for the charges. That's clear from the video," he said.

Jacob, a former State College, Pa., police officer, said of the video: "It is simply ridiculous, what happened on that video. It is absolutely not in accordance with any training that I ever received. The officer absolutely violated criminal law, and frankly, it was the duty of the other officers who were there to place that officer in custody for assault, and they did not do that."

Jacob said those officers also will be sued for violating his client's civil rights.

Of Romantino, he said: "He should already be an ex-police officer. What more do they need to investigate here? We have a video from before the force was used, so we can see what led up to the force. Sometimes we don't have the benefit of that. We can see Mr. Minguela's hands are up and he's complying."

Romantino, a two-year veteran of the force, and two other officers were removed from street duty pending the outcome of the prosecutor's investigation, the police department announced last month.

Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, declined to comment on the case.