2 men charged after urinating on memorial for New Jersey boy who died from brain cancer
NEW JERSEY (CNN) –Two men are facing charges after a “disgusting act” of vandalism was posted on social media over the weekend in New Jersey.
Police said 23-year-old Bryan Bellace is the man who was seen urinating and laughing on a memorial at Underhill Park in Mays Landing in a video posted online Sunday.
In the video, it zooms into a boy’s face on the memorial after the incident.
The boy has been identified Christian Clopp, a 9-year-old who died of brain cancer five years ago.
“As a single parent you think, what if that was my child?,” said Desmond Walker.
Walker and another good Samaritan Paul Burgen saw the video and immediately reacted with kindness.
“We went down here, came with gloves, sanitizer and we got it cleaned up,” he added.
It didn’t take them too much time to clean up the mess but they say it was meant to show the Clopp family that the community doesn’t stand for that sort of bad behavior.
“It’s a disgusting act,” Burgan said. “We come together. This is our community. When stuff like this happens, we come together and we take care what needs to be done.”
The memorial sits in an all-access playground and it was built in Clopp’s memory.
Clopp’s father took to social media to thank those who reached out in support of his family.
“I don’t understand this world today. A friend of ours came over today to inform us that a video was posted of two scumbags urinating on christian’s memorial at his playground,” the boy’s father wrote.
Bellace was charged with lewdness, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
The man recording the video, 23-year-old Daniel Flippen, was cited for having an open container of beer at the park.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/CNN via KYW