Surveillance video showing Camden County Police Officer Nicholas Romantino punching a man 12 times in the head sparked outrage when it became public in February. Even the police chief said he was ‘extremely disturbed’ by it.
But Romantino and a few other officers apparently had a laugh about the violent arrest of Edward Minguela just a few minutes later, according to body camera footage from the night of the Feb. 22 arrest.
Obtained through a public records request, the video shows Romantino showing his swollen knuckles to an officer who says of Minguela, “That guy. He’s always giving us a hard time, that guy.”
“Not anymore,” Romantino quipped, eliciting a few chuckles from his colleagues.
Minguela, 32, of Camden was arrested after officers responded to reports of a man with a gun. However, no gun was found on or near Minguela after he was taken into custody, authorities have said.
Minguela has threatened to sue police and the county prosecutor for alleged civil rights violations over the police stop on the street in the Fairview section of Camden, his attorney, Devon Jacob of Pennsylvania, has said.
Jacob has demanded the prosecutor’s office drop Minguela’s charges of resisting arrest and obstruction. Those charges, however, remain active in municipal court.
The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said last week that no charges will be filed against Romantino, because video of the incident shows Minguela was resisting by pulling his arms away from Romantino’s grasp. However, he remains on unpaid leave as the police department conducts its own internal affairs investigation.
Minguela told NJ Advance Media that he was walking away from Fairview Liquor on Collings Road around 8 p.m. Feb. 22 when officers ran up to him with guns drawn. Someone had called 911 to report a man with a gun and gave a spot-on description of Minguela, his vehicle and another man he was with.
Police searched for a weapon, but none was ever found.
Man describes alleged police beating in Camden
The video shows Minguela put his hands up when ordered to do so, but when Romantino tries to put Minguela’s arms behind his back, he appears to pull away.
Romantino takes him to the ground, tries to cuff him and then punches him nine times in the head, each blow landing with a thud in between his yells of “put your hands behind your back!” He orders him again to put his hands behind his back and delivers three more blows before cuffing Minguela, who starts to wail, “Why you hitting me like that bro?”
After walking Minguela over to a cruiser, Romantino pats him down. The video shows Minguela keeping up a steady dialogue, and at one point accusing Romantino of kicking him after Minguela called him a pejorative term.
Once inside the cruiser, Minguela continued to ask the driver, Officer Peter Sanchez, why he was arrested. “You’ll have to ask the officer that arrested you,” he replies.
The body camera videos also capture Romantino telling Sgt. Andrew Fegley that Minguela “requested to go to the hospital after I roughed his dome up a little bit.”
Sanchez is rerouted to the hospital by Fegley, the video shows. The officers turn off their body cameras at the hospital — which a police spokesman said is in compliance with privacy rules — so it’s impossible to verify the next part of Minguela’s story.
He said that an officer told him that if he declined medical care, they’d issue him a summons for resisting arrest and obstruction, but that if he sought treatment, they would also add a more serious charge of assault and battery on a police officer.
Minguela said he took the offer and left without treatment, but went back to the hospital the next day. His lawyer said he had a concussion and a fractured wrist.
Video allegedly shows Camden police officer repeatedly punching a man
Jacob said it is a conflict of interest for the same prosecutor’s office that is trying to convict Minguela for resisting arrest to also investigate whether Romantino’s use of force was lawful.
He and two local NAACP branches have called for a federal or state law enforcement agency to conduct the investigation instead. In issuing an OPRA request denial in March, the county revealed that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was looking into the case.
Jacob has also questioned whether the prosecutor’s office is looking into who anonymously called 911 to report that Minguela had a gun.
On the body camera videos, officers can be heard saying that this is the third such call they’ve received about Minguela and they need to figure out who is calling. One officer speculates that the calls are because someone “has it out for him.”
Court records show Minguela has been charged with crimes in Superior Court 11 times over the last 13 years, but most charges were transferred to municipal or family court, records show. He was convicted of resisting arrest in 2017 and of charges related to drug distribution in 2013 and 2005.
Romantino has been on the force for two years and earns a salary of $38,864.
According to police spokesman Dan Keashen, two officers who were peripherally involved in Minguela’s arrest are on paid leave while the internal affairs investigation is completed.