Protestors demand officers face charges

New Brunswick activist Tormel Pittman led the cheer “no justice, no peace” to a crowd of about 20 protesters yesterday in front of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, occupying the sidewalks as police officers drove in marked cars looking on the group.

Members of Occupy New Brunswick and Barry Deloatch supporters gathered with demands that New Brunswick Police Officers Brad Berdel and Dan Mazan be charged with the death of Barry Deloatch.

Mazan and Berdel stopped Deloatch, a 46-year-old New Brunswick resident, and two other unidentified men during a routine patrol on Sept. 22. During the stop, Deloatch was shot and killed.

“We’re here to make a stand that [the prosecutor’s office] treat these officers like you would any other citizen,” said Pittman, leader of the Deloatch protest. “Leave it to the grand jury to determine if they’re innocent.”

Jim O’Neill, spokesman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, said the prosecutor’s office has not officially identified the police officers involved in the shooting.

No charges have been filled against the officers, he said.

“The case has been presented to the grand jury,” O’Neill said. “We had asked a superior court … to investigate the incident.”

Ellen Whitt, an Occupy New Brunswick activist, said despite the fact that the prosecutor’s office has yet to file charges, they are required to go to a grand jury where she hopes justice will be served.

Whitt said she is still uneasy with the question of whether the officer’s actions against Deloatch were necessary.

“Officers have not released details,” she said. “We know that he had a puncture wound, but we don’t know if he had bruises or how he got his injuries.”

Whitt said she continues to hand out leaflets with information about Barry Deloatch and Occupy Movements with the hopes of keeping New Brunswick residents informed.

“[Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan] knows we are here, and we are going to continue to be out here,” she said. “We got to be here for the city.”

Rodney Blount, a Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office investigator, said the case is under investigation, but it will take time.

“The investigation is a very strange investigation,” he said of the timeliness and parties involved in the investigation. “Anyone who has any more information should come directly to me. We want to step up this investigation.”

Blount, who was born and raised in New Brunswick, said information collected from Crime Stoppers of Middlesex County would help bring justice and peace to this case.

Pittman said the officers are on paid leave, but these efforts are insufficient. Instead, he said the officers should be charged and placed in front of a grand jury to determine their innocence.

“If [Officer] Mazan gets acquitted by the grand jury, then we will have no problem with it. But it’s not up to Kaplan to let them go,” he said.

Pittman said the New Brunswick Police Department is there to protect its citizens, which some do well. But officers also need to obey the law.

“I support the good cops. If someone says they don’t like the cops, then they are crazy,” he said. “We have to fight for the good officers. [We] don’t need to address the community.”

He also said the issue of police brutality is not a race issue.

“We have all nationalities and colors here,” he said. “Police brutality impacts everyone — black, whites, Hispanics. We’re looking at the overall picture and so you can’t say it’s a race thing.”

Pittman said the city’s absence in the Deloatch marches and rallies has been upsetting.

He recently attended a march in Garfield, N.J., for Malik Williams, a 19-year-old man shot by police Dec. 10 after leaving the police station when he was booked on assault, according to nj.com.

At the march, Garfield Mayor Frank Calandriello and the Garfield Police Chief marched and offered condolences to the family, Pittman said.

“[New Brunswick Police Director Anthony] Caputo has not yet to show his face,” he said. “We got to give these police officers a voice. We need to give city council a voice. We need to balk these efforts and bring justice to New Brunswick.”

Pittman said he would continue to rally until officers Mazan and Bredel are charged for Deloatch’s murder.

“We will continue to be here on a constant basis,” he said. “Next Thursday we will be here [The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office on Bayard Street] again at 4 p.m. out in the cold. We can’t change the world, but we can change New Brunswick.”