Staff report

HOPATCONG – A police officer was placed on administrative duty Friday after he allegedly assulted a man wearing a bunny suit blowing an air horn in police headquarters while trying to turn himself in on a warrant.

Kevin Hemmerich, 29, went to Hopatcong Police Department headquarters Thursday at about 7:30 p.m. to turn himself in for not complying with a sentence he was given after he crashed his car while driving without insurance, according to his brother, Jason Hemmerich, 21.

Kevin Hemmerich, who recently hitchhiked across the country wearing the bunny suit, decided to wear the suit when he turned himself in, according to his brother, who said Kevin surprised him by also bringing an air horn.

Kevin had been ordered to participate in the county Sheriff’s Labor Assistance Program (SLAP) in lieu of spending time in jail but he had neglected to show up for the work so a warrant was out in his name, his brother said.

Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller confirmed that Kevin Hemmerich was wanted on a no bail warrant issued by the county Sheriff’s Office.

“We walked in there and we were having a little bit of fun. We were hoping to make a video that would go viral,” Jason said. Air horn pranks where unsuspecting victims are surprised by air horns are popular on YouTube.

In the video taken by Jason, Kevin can be seen blowing the air horn several times in the police department lobby and telling an unseen police department official behind a glass partition that he wanted to turn himself in. Kevin blew the horn several times and continued to blow it periodically after being told not to though he apologized for doing it.

After about 4 minutes, the video shows a police officer walking into the lobby, cursing at Kevin and then apparently hitting him in the head.

“The cop comes in and starts screaming at us and punched him in the face,” Jason said. “They kicked me out and slapped the phone out of my hand.”

Jason said that he and his brother are lifelong Hopatcong residents and know many of the officers with the department.

“I understand he had the air horn but he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. The cops ran in and punched him in the face and stopped me from recoding,” Jason said. “These guys are supposed to be trained to restrain people without violence. His hands were in the air.”

Kevin was taken to the Sussex County Jail where he remained Friday. Jason got a call from police at about 10 p.m. Thursday asking him to come down to the station and fill out some paperwork.

“I went down there and they didn’t read me my rights, didn’t fingerprint me. They just gave me a summons with my list of charges,” Jason said, adding the charges included harassment and obstruction.

“All I was doing was recording and I’m getting charged as a criminal now,” Jason said. “They said I was antagonizing.”

The Hopatcong Police Department issued a statement saying that an investigation would be conducted and that it could make no further comment at this time. Mueller said Friday afternoon that the officer in question had been placed on administrative duty and will not have contact with the public pending the completion of an investigation by the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office.

“We are going to be taking (the investigation) over exclusively,” Mueller said. “That decision was made this afternoon.”

Mueller said his office was not releasing the name of the officer at this time.

“We didn’t think it would go like it did,” Jason Hemmerich said. “We thought it was going to be a silly little thing.”