NJ cop is in major trouble after doing this to a handcuffed suspect

🚔 NJ officer sprayed man in the face, twice, while restrained

🚔 Body-cam video shows profanity-laced encounter

🚔 Officer remains suspended without pay

A 51-year-old Bridgeton police officer has admitted to using excessive force during an arrest, spraying a handcuffed man twice with pepper spray.

John Grier 3rd, of Cedarville in Cumberland County, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Camden federal court to one count of violating an individual’s civil rights.

Grier remained suspended without pay as of Friday, Bridgeton Police Chief Michael Gaimari confirmed to New Jersey 101.5.

’Do you want to feel pain, sir’ Grier caught on body-cam video

Grier was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2021, several years after the incident seen in part on his own body-camera footage, which was first secured by open-government advocate John Paff and then shared with New Jersey 101.5.

On June 18, 2017, he responded to a Bridgeton gas station, where a man and passenger had been sitting in a parked car at the gas pumps.

Grier interacted with the duo, as the man repeatedly cursed at the responding officers.

Grier then took off — but returned when a fellow officer called for backup as the driver and passenger had approached him, again, at the gas station.

At that point, the first man was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol.

As he was being handcuffed and put into the back of a patrol vehicle by another officer, Grier approached with a large can of oleoresin capsicum (OC), or pepper spray.

As seen in the video footage, Grier told the other officer to “step back” and asked the man “do you want to feel pain, sir,” before spraying him in the face.

Grier then sprayed the man for a second time, saying “there, how do you like it now? Now get in the goddamn car.” He is then seen on video, shoving the man over onto the back seat.

Video from the incident can be seen, with multiple profanities, here.

Grier later prepared and submitted a false police report in which he said that the man “refused [to enter the police vehicle] and continued to forcefully remain outside the vehicle,”

His initial report also said that the OC spray “did not strike [the victim] in the face and that it did not take immediate effect[.]”

At his plea hearing, Grier agreed that his repeated use of OC spray was unnecessary, unreasonable, and an excessive use of force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

“Those who wear the badge have an obligation to protect the civil rights of everyone in our communities, including those who are accused of a crime,” U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a written statement.

“Using pepper spray on a handcuffed suspect who posed no threat was an unreasonable use of force that violated the law.”

Sentencing has been set for Feb. 6.

Grier faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000.

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