Mazariego Family Says They Found Out About Beating Through Video

As far as Abelino Mazariego was concerned up until Tuesday, his father of the same name had died of natural causes.

It wasn't until the son of one of the victim's friends showed the family the gruesome video of two Summit teens beating their father on a bench in the Promenade on Springfield Avenue that they knew a crime had been committed.

Speaking exclusively to Patch Friday afternoon, Mazariego and his two uncles Juan Antonio and Lucilo, said they didn't even know 18-year-old Kharyi Williams-Clark of Summit was arraigned this morning on one count of manslaughter in Union County Superior Court. A 17-year-old minor has also been similarly charged. As of now, the individual who videotaped the beating has not been charged. The Union County Prosecutor's Office denied that another suspect was being held in connection with the case and Mayor Jordan Glatt refused to comment on whether a third arrest was impending.

"This has never happened before," Juan Mazariego said through a translator. "It's a brutal way to die. It's supposed to be a safe country."

But now Glatt said he didn't know the police were treating this incident as a crime until Monday.

"We thought it was a medical call," he said Friday at city hall.

When asked about a sense of anger reverberating throughout the community because police didn't alert the community about this incident until Wednesday, Glatt said the city could not have done it any differently.

"It's a balance between notifying the community, doing proper police work and not creating an alarm when it's not necessary," Glatt said. "At no time did we feel anyone was in danger."

The incident is the city's first non-domestic homicide in Glatt's 20 years as a Summit resident.

Abelino Mazariego and his uncles remembered their father and brother Friday as a good father and good brother.

"He didn't bother anybody," Juan Mazariego said.

"He was just coming out of work and getting some pizza," Abelino said of his father.

The family, meeting at city hall Friday afternoon to speak to Glatt and Police Chief Robert Lucid, said they fear for their safety in the aftermath of the attack on their father.

"We came to this country to work. The violence in our country is very hard," Juan Mazariego said. "Not even in this country do we feel safe now."

Cheiy Ruiz, an employee at Cafe Mavi where Abelino Mazariego the son works, said the victim's wife Julia Celina is also nervous.

"I hope we've provided a measure of comfort to the family," Glatt said.

Ruiz said in addition to the donation box at Dabbawalla, Cafe Mavi also now has a donation box for the family.

"They need help paying the rent," she said. It was Abelino Mazariego working as a dishwasher and food prep at Dabbawalla that took care of much of the family's expenses.

In addition to a wake Saturday from 5-10 p.m. at Dangler Funeral Home and a funeral mass at St. Teresa of Avila at 10:45 a.m. Monday, a community memorial has been set for Wednesday night.

"Bring a flower as we walk through the streets of Summit to reclaim and cleanse them after the violence that defiled them," said Rev. Avi Friedman in a release about the service. "Gather at the City Hall parking lot.  We will walk past the promenade where we will lay our flowers.  We will end at the Village Green for a brief service there."