"They punched him, stomped him, kicked him and then they let the dog out of the car," said neighbor and eyewitness Ricardo Garcia. "The dog bit him on his face and around his body. There's no call for that. Once a man is handcuffed and unconscious, you should have stuck him in the patrol car and take him to the police station. Instead they decided to beat him right here."
A dog can be heard baking in the police dispatch recording of the incident, as can the words “Subject under…tried to disarm me.”
"Why, what he was doing, I don't know," White's aunt Valerie White said to NBC 10. "I'm trying to get answers and closure now. He lived a street life but he was a human being. Bottom line."
"As many of you have already heard, earlier today a tragedy occurred involving officers and a citizen," said Vineland Police Chief Timothy Codispoti in a statement. "Sadly, this call for service resulted in an “in–custody, non-shooting death” which is being investigated by the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s office."
Chief Codispoti expressed his condolences for his family.
"Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased and with the officers involved," he said. " I ask that everyone allow time for our justice system to now investigate this matter to its truthful conclusion. The Vineland Police Department is cooperating with the prosecutor’s office and I urge anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the prosecutor’s office with your information. At this time updates regarding the progress of this investigation are being released through the prosecutor’s office."
