A Woodlynne police officer is accused of using pepper spray on two people, unprovoked.
On June 4, around 1:30 p.m., Woodlynne Officer Ryan Dubiel, 31, and another officer arrived at the 200 block of Parker Avenue in Woodlynne, New Jersey, after a man called 911, claiming teens were loitering on his property and smoking marijuana.
Body camera footage released Thursday shows Dubiel using pepper spray on two people, including a 16-year-old boy. Investigators said the two people were not physically resisting or trying to harm others or themselves at the time of the incident. The video also shows the officer chasing another teen down the street as he continues to use the pepper spray.
Note: The pepper spray is used around the 2 minute mark in the video.
"The kids wasn't doing anything," Maria Viggiano, the mother of the teen, told NBC10. "They were just sitting there minding their own business."
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Viggiano also claimed the officers never announced why they were there in the first place.
Under the current Use of Force protocols, a police officer is only permitted to use force when a subject refuses to comply with an officer’s commands at the time of arrest, or when the subject threatens the officer’s safety.
Dubiel was charged Wednesday with two counts of simple assault.
“Our Special Prosecutions Unit received the Internal Affairs complaint against Dubiel on June 5 and immediately began collecting all of the evidence to conduct a thorough and impartial review of the complaint,” Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill Mayer said. “After careful review, it was clear Dubiel’s actions are not consistent with the State of New Jersey use-of-force policy.”
Dubiel, who is currently suspended without pay, has been with the Woodlynne Police Department for 10 months. It’s the ninth police department where he has served. His previous departments include Camden and Edgewater Park, according to NJ.com.
