Anonymous ‘doxes’ South Jersey officers over Phillip White death

‘Anonymous,’ the international cadre of Internet hackers, claims to have released the personal information of the Vineland police officers who allowed a K-9 to attack a prone man — who later died while police were bringing him to a hospital.

A message was posted Tuesday with what Anonymous claims is the names, home addresses and phone numbers of a Vineland police officer and a K-9 officer who allegedly are in cell phone video of the March 31 incident involving Phillip White. It also includes names of their family members.

The practice of researching and releasing a person’s personal information on the Internet is known as “doxxing.” It has been criticized as unethical and for putting people potentially in harm’s way.

The information was posted on Pastebin.info, and according to the site, has been re-posted multiple times already.

A Youtube video was posted April 6, allegedly by “Anonymous,” in which a voice threatens to release personal information of the officers in question within 24 hours if they were not suspended for their actions.

“This is absolute grotesque behavior displayed by the police department,” a voice states in the video, as footage of the K-9 near White released by NBC10 is shown.

The video goes on to demand the release of the officers’ names and their suspension, as well as dashcam footage from the investigation, and threatens to dox more employees of the Cumberland County prosecutor’s office, all officers hired by the Vineland Police Department, and begin cyber-attacks on their websites “for every hour” the officers are not suspended.

White, 32, died March 31 after being arrested by police responding to a call of a “disorderly person” on the 100 block of Grape Street in Vineland, New Jersey.

The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office and Vineland Police Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Cellphone footage of the K-9 biting White as he lies prone on the street was released by a friend of White’s toNBC10.

Police say White had struggled with officers and tried to grab one of their guns before he was arrested.

Walter Hudson founder of the Jersey-based National Awareness Alliance has called for an investigation into White’s death and said the names of the officers involved should be public record.

“It’s necessary. I appreciate them for doing that,” he said of the doxxing of the Jersey officers.

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, theVineland Police Department posted recordingsof the 911 call regarding White “yelling” on Grape Street and then communications from dispatch with officers responding to the calls.

An officer responding can be heard screaming“guy’s trying to grab my gun”at one point in the recordings.

In another recording officers and dispatch can be heard discussing that the subject is “hyper-ventilating.”

According to the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, “White was placed in an emergency vehicled to be transported to the hospital … At some point during transport, White became unresponsive and CPR was instituted by medical personnel. White was pronounced dead at the hospital.”

Vineland police chief Timothy Codispoti toldthe Daily Journalthe release was only related to the high volume of requests for those calls that the department has received, and did not mention the doxxing of his officers or threats of Anonymous.

The New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police did not respond immediately to requests for comment.