What to Know
- A pair of Jersey City police officers were suspended after they were caught on camera storming a Domino's manager over undelivered pizza
- The manager of the pizzeria said that one of the officers said "I'll lock you up"
- The officers were charged with disorderly conduct and harassment
A pair of New Jersey police officers were suspended after one of them was caught on camera pushing a Domino’s restaurant chain manager against a wall because their pizza didn’t get delivered on time.
Video obtained exclusively by News 4 shows the two Jersey City police officers storming a Domino's on Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City and pushing the branch’s manager up against a wall in an incident the manager, Mena Kirolos, said was spurred because of a missed pizza delivery Tuesday evening.
Kirolos said the confrontation was sparked by a missed pizza delivery. He said when the driver arrived at the delivery location, his calls were not answered. A short time later, Kirolos said he got a call from an officer upset over his missing pizza delivery.
“He said he was coming to my store, so I waited 10, 15 minutes, no one showed up,” he said.
Two officers eventually did show up. Surveillance footage shows the pair in uniform as they barged in and broke up the hum of the pizza-delivery operation.
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Kirolos then walks out of a back room, video shows, and one of the officers grabs him and pushes him against a wall.
Several other Domino employees crowd around them, with some pulling out their phones to film the wrangle.
“(I was thinking) What can I do?,” Kirolos said. “He’s a police officer. I can’t do anything back.”
In a cellphone video recorded by an employee, Kirolos can be heard saying “remove your hands” and “don’t touch me.” One officer can be seen trying to diffuse the situation between the two.
Kirolos said at that point, the more irate of the two officers told him “I’ll lock you up,” and the cellphone footage then shows the manager holding his hands out as if they were cuffed as he says “please do it!”
The officer trying to break up the two men can then be heard saying “I am trying to have a conversation with you” to Kirolos, and then he suggests that the three of them go outside to “have a friendly conversation.” Kirolos initially refuses, but the three men eventually go outside and talk, their voices now inaudible.
After the exchange, the two officers were suspended and charged with harassment and disorderly conduct. Both are due in court on April 11.
The Jersey City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Kirolos, meanwhile, said he just wants an apology.
“I don’t like being cursed at, being touched,” he said. “I only demanded an apology. That’s it.”
