03/17/15
BORDENTOWN >> Police released the full video of a traffic stop that occurred last Wednesday after a city police sergeant stopped a Philadelphia used car dealer on Route 206.
The stop became mired in controversy after a TV news report showed video captured from inside of a vehicle being driven by Abdoul Aziz Koita. The video shows Sgt. Vincent Bernotas attempting to remove Koita from his car when he continues to ask the sergeant why he’d been stopped. Police said that Sgt. Bernotas asked Koita to produce his credentials, to which he refused four times while asking why he was being pulled over. In the video Koita asks Bernotas what will happen if he does not get out of the car. Bernotas told Koita, that he’d be arrested for hindering.
Police said that Koita’s car was initially stopped for his Washington State dealer tag that was not on file along with a broken taillight. After more than 20 requests from the officer for Koita to exit the car, police said that he [Koita] would exit the vehicle. He then refused, and Bernotas ordered him out of the car seven more times. The television news report shows Bernotas first trying to remove Koita by his arm, and them by his shoulder and neck area.
There were four people in the car on a trip to an auto auction, Koita told NBC 10. The other three occupants presented credentials and were allowed to follow Bernotas to pick up Koita following his arrest.
Koita was issued a single criminal summons for obstruction and a motor vehicle summons for the license plate.
On Sunday, city officials defended Bernotas’ actions saying he followed protocol.
“I’m comfortable with the sergeant, I discussed it with him already. And the Chief, of course has been hands on since the beginning,” Deputy Mayor James Lynch said on Sunday. “We’re comfortable with where we sit right now.”
Additionally, Lynch said that the city had referred the incident to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, who agreed the sergeant followed protocol.
Source: http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20150317/NEWS/150319807