SOMERSET COUNTY, N.J. - Authorities in New Jersey are investigating what the governor called a "racially disparate" response by police to a fight between two teens at a mall in Bridgewater Township over the weekend.Video captured and shared by Sienna Freidinger shows two teens arguing and then physically fighting at the Bridgewater Commons Mall on Saturday, Feb.
12. One teen appears to be Black and the other appears to be white.Two officers arrive and break up the fight just as the light-skinned teen grabs at the Black teen, who is on the ground, the video shows.
The officers pull the white teen off the Black teen and then one cop, a man, tackles the Black teen, pins him face down, and puts his hands behind his back.
The other officer, a woman, simply sits the white teen on a couch, the video shows. Then she joins her partner to help handcuff the Black teen while the other boy, unrestrained, watches from the couch.At his pandemic briefing on Wednesday, the governor said an investigation is still gathering facts. "I'm deeply disturbed by what appears to be a racially disparate treatment in the video," Murphy said.