Letter: Police Brutality At Brookdale Community College

The expressed opinions or views of this letter does not necessarily represent the opinion of the MiddletownMike blog:

Dear Editor,

I was shocked to learn of the police brutality by the Brookdale Community College Police Department against student Jeffrey "Jay" Michel of Colts Neck.

Michel is an innocent student who was physically assaulted by police, who pepper sprayed him and put him into a choke hold for no reason.

Like far too many other incidents of police brutality in this country, Mr. Michel is African-American.

This is not the first incident that Brookdale Police have been involved in that has sparked allegations of racism. In 2012, another minority student Cedric Calero, an 18 year old freshman from Manalapan was arrested by campus police on theft charges, that were later dropped, for filling a foam cup with ice and not paying the price of a soda, despite the fact he never filled the cup with soda.

I call upon Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson to march on Brookdale Community College, to demand that the baseless charges against Mr. Michel be dropped and the officers responsible for this abuse of power be terminated from their employment and criminally prosecuted for their misconduct and assault against Mr. Michel. We cannot allow this to continue.

Call College President Maureen Murphy at 732-224-2204 and tell her to Stop Police Brutality on Campus.

ERIC HAFNER
TOMS RIVER NJ