Prosecutor Reviewing Arrest Of Perth Amboy Teen On Bike

PERTH AMBOY, NJ — The Middlesex County Prosecutor's office said it is reviewing an incident in Perth Amboy where a teenager on a bike was ordered off the bike and taken into custody by Perth Amboy Police.

A video of the encounter was posted to Twitter, and has been re-tweeted more than 25,000 times. In the video, a group of Perth Amboy police officers, and as many as six squad cars, surround a group of teens on bikes and order them off the bikes. One officer can be told telling the teens they were "supposed to have licenses" for the bikes.

At least one teen was taken into custody; it is not immediately known what he was charged with.

"This is Perth Amboy, NJ. Are the police really arresting kids over bike registrations?" said Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU-NJ, one of the people who re-tweeted the video. "Does it really require this many officers to address whatever situation this is? Police CANNOT continue to be our response to EVERYTHING."

This second video shows the teen in red being released, and a female Perth Amboy police officer is heard telling the teens that their bikes are supposed to be registered with the city, and that they were supposed to be biking on the sidewalk:

Perth Amboy does have this law on the books that requires all bikes be registered with the city.

"You know that we told you guys to stay on the sidewalk, OK?" said the female officer. "You guys know that you are going against traffic. It is for your safety. You think I want to be here taking bikes away? Like, this is so asinine. We have so much better stuff to do with our time. We really don't want to be here. But we just left another group doing the same thing. We can't do this all summer."

"And technically, if I wanted to be an a******, is your bike registered with us? I don't have to give it back to you," she continued. "But I'm not going to do that because that's not the point of this. The whole point of this is I don't want to call parents and say 'Dude, your kid got hit by a car.' That's it! Like, we want you guys out there having fun, but the right way. If you're going to all be coming down the street, stay on the correct side of the road."

Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced Tuesday afternoon that her office is now reviewing the arrest.

She said it was the Tweet by the ACLU-NJ director that brought the issue to her attention.

"Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone has announced today, April 20, 2021, that she has reviewed the Twitter post of Amol Sinha, the Executive Director of the ACLU-NJ," her office said in a statement. "The facts and circumstances of this incident are being reviewed by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in conjunction with the Perth Amboy Police Chief Roman McKeon and other law enforcement officials from the city of Perth Amboy."

"Every juvenile being taken into custody by law enforcement in Middlesex County is of the utmost concern to Prosecutor Ciccone and this young person is no different. What occurred before, during and after the incident depicted is under review," she said.

The nation is on edge this week as the jury begins deliberations in Minnesota in the Derek Chauvin trial. A verdict is expected soon.

This is Perth Amboy, NJ. Are the police really arresting kids over bike registrations? Does it really require this many officers to address whatever situation this is? Police CANNOT continue to be our response to EVERYTHING. https://t.co/fcrPfJNKBI
— Amol Sinha (@AmolSinha) April" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/AmolSinha/... 20, 2021