Cop supporters demand Choi's resignation
Choi stands firm on reforming Edison Police Department
BY JAY BODAS
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff More than 100 Edison residents rallied for the police department and against Mayor Jun Choi's policies in front of Edison's municipal complex on Monday.

Several hundred police officers, family members and police supporters gathered in front of Edison's town hall Monday to demand Mayor Jun Choi's resignation at a demonstration organized by Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 75.

Protesters also displayed a 20-foot-long banner with the words "Choi Must Go" in bright red letters, taped to the side of a truck brought in for the demonstration. Some sported white T-shirts printed with the same slogan in red letters.

They were protesting a current police department internal affairs investigation into who tipped off federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that the man at the focal point of an Aug. 2 rally organized by an Indian activist would be attending the rally.

Mayor Jun Choi said before the protest that he and Police Chief George Mieczkowski were committed to reforming the Edison Police Department.

"We will not be distracted," Choi said. "Let me put this into perspective. I did not run for mayor so that we can continue the status quo and appease special interests in town. I ran for mayor to make positive changes and to make a difference in the average person's life here in Edison. This is more important to me than being re-elected four years from now. I am going to base my decisions on fact and the law."

The internal affairs investigation stems from the Aug. 2 arrest of Rajnikant Parikh, 30, an Edison man. He was arrested by plainclothes officers from ICE, the largest investigative branch of the federal Department of Homeland Security. Parikh was wanted on a deportation order that was several years old, said ICE spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback.

The arrest took place at a rally at the municipal complex organized by roughly 100 South Asian demonstrators to protest alleged police brutality against Parikh stemming from a July Fourth incident on Dayton Drive.

In that incident, Parikh had been arrested and charged with aggravated assault on an Edison police officer, resisting arrest, rioting and failure to disperse at 10 p.m. on the Fourth of July, Lt. Joseph Shannon has said.

Mayor Jun Choi has also said that neither he nor Police Chief George Mieczkowski were aware that Parikh was the target of the ICE operation or that ICE planned to arrest him that day.

"There seems to be some evidence that certain police officers, without notifying their superiors or without authorization, coordinated an operation with ICE," Choi said after the arrest. "We are looking into this. We take these allegations very seriously."

If not for the obviously political atmosphere, the rally could have been mistaken for a summer barbecue. Some participants were grilling food off to one side.

Edison PBA President Michael Schwarz said before the rally that he thought the internal affairs investigation was "politically motivated." He declined to elaborate.

Edison PBA attorney David DeFillippo, who attended the rally, said that the "straw that broke the camel's back" was that Choi announced the internal investigation publicly.

"His motives concern me simply by the fact that he went public with it," DeFillippo said. "It is an attempt to mollify the Asian Americans that are upset with him."

DeFillippo also said that Choi does not have the authority to initiate an internal affairs investigation.

"He does not have the authority to launch an investigation, and in New Jersey, the very existence of an internal affairs investigation must remain confidential," DeFillippo said. "I am very confident that the investigation will reveal that no protocols, misconduct, or violations were committed, at which point we will demand an apology from the mayor."

But Chief Mieczkowski disputed DeFillippo's claims. The internal affairs investigation was initiated on his orders, not Choi's, he said.

"I have the authority to initiate an investigation," Mieczkowski said. "The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether there was a break in the chain of command, as I was unaware that an arrest was going to take place that day. I am hoping that it will be concluded by late next week. It's a matter of coordinating interviews, so sometimes it takes a while."

Mieczkowski also said that it was "not uncommon" for an internal affairs investigation to be announced publicly.

"It has happened before," he said. "For example, in the July Fourth incident where the officer was exonerated, the investigation was announced to the public."

Jerry Barca, Choi's spokesman, also listed last year's August incidents on Oak Tree Road and at JB's Tavern on Woodbridge Avenue as other examples of internal affairs investigations that were disclosed to the public.

Edison PBA Vice President Howard Askelson said at the rally there was "no friction" between the police and the township's South Asian community.

"There has never been friction between us and the Indian community," Askelson said. "I think the police have always had a wonderful relationship with the Indian community. It doesn't help us to have friction, whether it be racial or any other kind. [Peter] Kothari is creating something that is not there. He is creating racial tension where none of it exists."

Mieczkowski said he attended the India Day parade on Sunday.

"Yesterday morning I went up to the [India Day] parade route, and I was a little apprehensive," he said. "But I was pleased with the reception I got, and the community seemed pleased that I was there. I think the tension between the Indian community and the police department is overstated. We were there to provide a safe route for the parade, and it was a fun, family-oriented atmosphere."