Cop punched suspect 10 times in the head, video shows

CAMDEN — The Camden County Prosecutor's Office is investigating a video that shows three county police officers punching a man in the head on the street.

In video aired by NBC Philadelphia, officers are seen repeatedly punching Edward Minguela in the head as he lay on his stomach on the sidewalk on Collings Avenue, after being brought down from behind by one of the officers.

One of the officers can be seen punching the 32-year-old Camden man 10 times in succession.

Minguela was mistaken by officers for a man with a similar description who had a gun in the area last Thursday evening, Camden County spokesman Dan Keashan told NBC Philly.

"The video from the 1300 block of Collings Road is extremely disturbing and is not consistent with our policy, training and standards at the Camden County Police Department. Moving forward an independent investigation will be conducted by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office in regard to this incident," Keashan told New Jersey 101.5 in a statement. "We are taking this video very seriously."

He said the officers involved are on administrative duty during the investigation.

Minguela told NBC Philadelphia he did not resist and did nothing wrong.

In a separate but similar case, four Jersey City cops are facing criminal charges after they stomped on a burning man they pulled from a car wreck, mistakenly thinking he was the fugitive they had been chasing through city streets.

After a witnesses' video was shared by the media, city officials there also came out forcefully against the officers.

The Prosecutor's Office have not yet returned messages left by New Jersey 101.5.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or on Twitter @DanalexanderNJ.

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