An ugly Memorial Day incident involving a police officer punching a young female beach-goer at a New Jersey beach became a national story after cell-phone video of the confrontation went viral. On Wednesday, CBS provided some updates on the situation: The police officer will face no criminal charges, and it turns out that the girl involved in the scuffle was on probation.
In a report Wednesday morning, “CBS This Morning” revealed that the officer, though still under an internal review for his actions, will face no criminal charges. The sunbather, Emily Weinman, 20 — who refused to give the officer her name, which prompted the officer to attempt to handcuff her — has admitted that she was on probation at the time of the incident for misdemeanor simple assault:
Here’s the original cellphone video of the incident that has since topped seven million views:
Soon after the video went viral, the police released nine minutes of bodycam footage showing what led up to and followed the confrontation:
Weinman faces a laundry list of charges: “two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, spitting at an officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and being a minor in possession of alcohol,” CBS reports.
Philly.com reports that while the arresting officer will face no criminal charges, the Wildwood Police Department’s internal affairs unit “will continue an administrative investigation into the May 26 arrest of Emily Weinman, officials said, ‘with monitoring by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards Unit.'”
As The Daily Wire reported last week, the police department and the mayor of Wildwood defended the actions of the officer.
“From what I see on the video and only on the video, from not even talking to the officers, I think they did a decent job,” Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto said of the bodycam footage released Wednesday, NJ.com reported. “I think we could have done a better job at trying to explain to her, but it didn’t appear Ms. Weinman wanted to hear what we had to say.”
“She assaults them, she spits at them, she kicks them,” Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said. “At that point, the police officer did what he had to do.”
Weinman’s lawyer, Stephen Dicht, contended, however, that the bodycam footage supported his client’s case. “I don’t think it changes anything,” said Dicht. “I think it shows the police overreacted and used excessive force.”
H/T Twitchy