Jersey City police officers kicked the victim of a crash who was on fire following a police chase on Sunday night.
Officials told reporters that the chase began after 11 p.m. when a man named Leo Pinkston, 48, took off during a traffic stop in the neighborhood of Greenville. Pinkston drove to Tonnelle Avenue, and got into a fender-bender as he fled, according to a city account. Officers opened fire during the chase, but it's not clear if anyone was hit.
A mile beyond the first collision, six miles from the start point of the chase, according to the Jersey Journal, Pinkston got into a more serious crash, hitting a utility pole, his car erupting in flames. Another driver was set on fire in this crash. Video shows that man, 28, rolling to extinguish the flames engulfing his body, feet from a burning car. (Warning: The video is graphic.)
Several officers approach, guns drawn, as the man kneels, and one officer kicks the man in his throat or upper chest. Another kicks in the direction of the man's head. The cops then drag the man into the road.
Shortly after the chase, officials told reporters that the man was critically injured in the crash. Now, they are providing additional details.
"Our investigators have reviewed the video and we believe with certainty that this man is the bystander from West New York who suffered burns, not Leo Pinkston, the individual pursued by police," the Hudson County prosecutor's office said in a statement. Pinkston is being charged with aggravated assault and fleeing police.
The bystander's family told NBC4 that the man suffered severe burns and fractured ribs and is scheduled for surgery today.
"When I saw the images of my son being massacred, it was indescribable. He was just leaving home for work," said the victim's father, Tomas Felix.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is demanding that the officers be fired.
"I don't think there's any explanation that would justify their actions," he told NBC4. "The entire pursuit that was previous to that fiery crash had questionable judgment calls from the officers, from the shootings to continuing to pursue the car."
On Twitter Wednesday, Fulop called the response "unacceptable" and said "We'll pursue termination + criminal charges as appropriate."
The Jersey City Police Department referred a call seeking comment to a city spokeswoman, who did not answer the phone.
At least one group is standing up for the officers.
"As it should be, this entire incident is being fully investigated," Carmine Disbrow, president of the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association, told reporters in a statement. "Taking swift action isn't always elegant, but this video clearly shows that the officers acted quickly to extinguish the flames, and pull this man out of harm's way."
Disbrow told the Journal that the city has confiscated new police sport utility vehicles from the districts involved in the chase, but said that no officers have been suspended in connection with it so far.
