Lawyer: Black teen in viral Bridgewater Commons mall arrest treated like a 'predator'
An arrest at the Bridgewater Commons two years ago can become a "teachable moment" for police about the harmful impact of implicit bias, according to the lawyer for the Somerville teen who was involved in the 2022 fight at the mall that drew international attention after a video showing a police officer tackling him went viral.
Gregg Zeff, attorney for Z'Kye Husain and his parents, said at a Hackensack press conference last week, along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Bergen County NAACP, that the NAACP will offer training to all police officers in New Jersey on implicit bias.
"Bridgewater, we want to see you there," Zeff said.
Zeff said he had extended an invitation to Bridgewater officials to attend the press conference in a spirit of "let's do something together" to mark the resolution of the legal action between the teen and the township.
"Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could get those police officers and the government in Bridgewater into this room, standing next to us and say, 'we're sorry for what happened,'" Zeff said, adding that it would have been an opportunity for the community to learn about implicit bias and "teach them why it was wrong."
Instead, Zeff said, the township "scoffed" at the suggestion he had offered "over and over again."
Bridgewater decided "we're going to take taxpayer money and make them an offer you can't refuse," he said.
Bridgewater Township had no comment on the press conference.
Zeff later said "we can all learn" about implicit bias from the incident and that he believed Bridgewater wants the issue "to away."
"We're not going to let it go away," Zeff said.
The lawyer also pressed the state Attorney General's Office to release its report on the incident.
The controversy began on Feb. 12, 2022, when two teens, Z'Kye Husain, then 15, a Black male from Somerville, and Umar Joseph Franco, then, 15, of Colombian and Pakistani heritage, and who was perceived to be white, became involved in a scuffle near Bloomingdale's on the third-story of the mall.
The video shows Husain and Franco, then a sophomore at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, arguing and pointing fingers at each other. That leads to pushing and shoving and after two police officers responded to the scene, one officer forced the Black teen, Husain, to the floor and handcuffed him while the other teen, Franco, was placed on a chair and was not handcuffed.
Both teens were released to their parents and no charges were filed.
More: Why hasn't report on Bridgewater police response to mall fight been released?
The incident was recorded by bystanders and posted to social media. More than 1,000 complaints were received by the Bridgewater Police Department and the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.
In the following weeks, Bridgewater was roiled with protests against the police and an anti-Black Lives Matter banner was hung on a pedestrian bridge over the ramp from Route 22 to Route 202-206, near Bridgewater Commons.
On Feb. 1 Somerset County Superior Court Judge Robert Ballard sealed the settlement between the township and the teen's parents after a Friendly Conference was held to obtain the court's approval of a settlement on behalf of a minor.
Details of the settlement remain confidential because of the teen's age, but the lawsuit stated that it was asking for $100,000.
Crump said the police officers in the Commons incident "automatically assumed the white child was innocent and the black child was guilty."
"They could only see what society has stereotyped him to be," he said.
Crump said they treated Husain like a "predator" and the other teen in the fight "like an angel."
Crump reiterated Zeff's point that the incident could become a " teachable moment."
"The question is, do you want to be better?" he said.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bridgewater Commons mall viral arrest a 'teachable moment': lawyer
