After vigil for Felix DeJesus, his family barred from Mendez safety meeting

PATERSON — On the anniversary of his disappearance, Felix DeJesus’ family members and their supporters were barred Thursday night from attending a safety meeting open to the public and hosted by Councilman Alex Mendez at a city school.

After being turned away from the Mendez event by Paterson police officers at the school’s front entrance, the DeJesus family and others walked to the side of the building where they looked through windows and saw the meeting taking place.

The group then held up their protest signs and knocked on the windows.

“I want to come in,” yelled DeJesus’ brother, Eric, to those inside the meeting.

“They’re blocking us from going to a public meeting,” asserted activist Corey Teague as he video-recorded the events. “We’re not terrorists. We’re just trying to get justice for the family.”

Mendez insisted he was not responsible for blocking the DeJesus family from coming inside, saying he had “no control” over city schools.

Paterson Police Chief Engelbert Ribeiro said there had been a “miscommunication” that resulted in the DeJesus group being denied access. The chief said there was a “misunderstanding” about whether the meeting was already over when the group arrived.

Some people inside the meeting became afraid to leave when they saw the protesters outside, law enforcement officials said. So, police officers mingled with the crowd as attendees left the building on their way to their vehicles, officials said.

When Mendez left the school, DeJesus family members confronted him with anger.

“Calmer heads prevailed,” said Ribeiro. “What I witnessed were just people talking to each other.”

The DeJesus group of about 30 people arrived at the meeting at Paterson’s STEAM High School in a crosstown caravan after finishing a candlelight vigil for the missing man at Westside Park, where he was last seen.

More from Paterson Press:A year later, Felix DeJesus’ family feels no closer to finding the missing Haledon man

'A day of mourning'

As temperatures dipped below freezing, about 50 DeJesus family members, friends and activists had gathered near Front Street, on the crest of a hill overlooking the Passaic River.

That was the spot where DeJesus was dropped off by two Paterson police officers who had detained him in handcuffs on Feb. 2, 2022 after a disturbance at a bodega more than 10 blocks away. DeJesus reportedly then encountered five people in the park and was drinking alcohol with them.

But what happened to him and where he is remains a mystery.

“This is no anniversary, this is no celebration,” said Teague, speaking to the people at the vigil with a bullhorn. “Today is a day of mourning.”

The speeches at the vigil expressed frustration toward city officials who they said have done little to help them, anger toward the Paterson police department, which they blamed for the DeJesus disappearance, and sadness for the missing man and his hurting family.

DeJesus’ mother, Wanda Maldonado, a small woman who lived with Felix in an apartment in Haledon, wept often during the vigil, leaning against her son, Eric.  The mother spoke briefly in Spanish to the crowd, at times pausing as she became overcome with emotion. Eric embraced his mother as she talked, holding her head in his hand.

Maldonado said Felix had been her “partner” as the two of them did many things together, according to her daughter-in-law, Crystal Garcia. The mother said she has lost enthusiasm for life since her son’s disappearance, and she pleaded for information about where he is.

“Gracias, gracias, gracias,” she said concluding her speech.

DeJesus’ two children - Mariana, 22, and Kevin, 18 - were at the gathering, but did not give speeches. They spoke with Paterson Press beforehand.

“It feels so sad, that the people who were supposed to be helping him were the ones who hurt him,” said Mariana DeJesus. “They didn’t do their job at all. They didn’t read him his rights. They turned off their cameras and they left him here.”

The two officers — Jacob Feliciano and Dodi Zorrilla — were suspended for 90 days without pay for breaking various departmental rules during their encounter with DeJesus, including shutting off their body camera while he was in their custody.

Kevin DeJesus said he thinks the punishment imposed on the two cops was far too lenient.

“It’s like getting suspended from school,” he said. “They can just go back to the same place they were working before like nothing happened."

Their uncle, Giovanni DeJesus, told the crowd at the vigil that someone must be “hiding something” about his brother’s disappearance.

“Nobody goes missing without a trace,” he said. “Somebody knows something.”

Activists and family members complained that higher levels of law enforcement have not intervened in the case. They called city officials hypocrites for saying they felt compassion for the family without putting those words into action.

“They say they support us, but which ones of them are here now?” asked Giovanni DeJesus, another brother.

Giovanni praised the Haledon police, who are handling the missing person investigation. “They are the only ones we believe in,” he said.

Haledon Police Captain George Guzman attended the vigil and was invited to speak. He took exception to one activist’s criticism of the Paterson police department.

“The Haledon Police Department has done everything in our power to try to get answers,” he said. “But to say that Paterson has not assisted us, that would be a complete lie.”

Guzman, who is heading the probe, talked about the challenges facing his investigators.

“I get frustrated,” he said. “It’s unfortunate when our detectives are canvassing the area and people look the other way and say, ‘I don’t know nothing.’”

One of the five people who encountered DeJesus in the park after his interaction with police has been designated as “a person of interest” in the investigation, according to Jeff Patti, the family’s lawyer. But that person has refused to speak with detectives and has asked for a lawyer, Patti said several months ago.

DeJesus was wearing a T-shirt without a jacket when the police dropped him off, his family noted. He also was drunk at the time and complaining of a broken hand, they said.

“It’s cold tonight, right? We’re shivering,” said activist Sebastian Mejiao. “The fact of the matter is that it was colder last year,” he noted, referring to the frigid temperatures when DeJesus went missing.

“This family will not stop, this community will not stop, until they get answers,” Mejiao added.

Story continues below gallery.

Mendez encounters missing man's family

Mendez, in a phone interview on Friday, said he was speaking at the safety meeting and did not realize the protesters had arrived at the event and were denied access. Neither Mendez, the police department, nor the school district provided any answer on who made the decision not to let the family inside.

During the past year, the DeJesus group has engaged in numerous angry confrontations with Paterson officials during City Council meetings.

“I have no control over the school,” Mendez told Eric DeJesus as he left the high school in an encounter recorded by Teague.

“I want you to know something, you lost our respect,” the missing man’s brother responded.

Felix DeJesus’ son asked Mendez why he would hold a safety meeting on the same night as the anniversary vigil.

Mendez told Paterson Press on Friday that he had not been aware the family was holding the candlelight event, saying he would have canceled his event if he had known about it.

Mendez said he had been threatened Thursday night by some people in the DeJesus group. But he said he doesn’t plan to press charges and wasn’t fearful while leaving the school Thursday night.

“I’m a man,” Mendez said. “I’m not afraid of nobody.”

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ Felix DeJesus family holds vigil on anniversary