The man who urinated on a memorial for a 9-year-old New Jersey boy who died of brain cancer blamed being drunk for his despicable act.
Bryan Bellace, 23, of Egg Harbor City, just northwest of Atlantic City, was charged with lewdness, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, according to the Cherry Hill Courier-Post. He also violated a local ordinance by being in the Mays Landing park, where the memorial is located, with an open container of alcohol.
“It was a big mistake I made. I was intoxicated,” Bellace told ABC News Monday. “I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. When I came to my senses the next day, I realized I made a huge mistake. I wish I could take it all back and make things right.”
Daniel Flippen, also 23, of Hammonton, allegedly filmed a video of the act and was charged with having open alcohol in a park.
Hamilton Township police received info Sunday about a “disturbing video” of a man relieving himself on a granite memorial of the child that’s located in Mays Landing Lakers Youth Sports Facility playground. The boy, Christian Clopp, died from brain cancer in 2012.
The child’s father, Mark Clopp, posted his feelings about the crime on Facebook. “I don’t know either one of you,” Clopp directed at the men who vandalized his son’s memorial. “I have no idea what exists in your life to make you so indifferent to how others feel but I hope this serves as a wake up call and you get the help you need.
“I admit, my initial reaction was to find you and beat you senseless in defense of my son’s honor and the distress you caused my family,” he added. “I am better than that. I hope it doesn’t take the heartache my family has lived through to open your eyes. Something is wrong in your life and you need to fix it. You have done serious damage to your reputation; only you can fix it.”
Clopp also shared a Facebook post from two local coaches, Paul Burgan and Desmond Walker, who cleaned and disinfected the memorial.
“When Coach Desmond first heard about this story and contacted me, we were both so disgusted by what we read and heard we felt we needed to go down to this memorial, clean it up and disinfect it,” Burgan wrote. “We did not make this post for publicity but we made this post to let people know that this is our community and we don’t condone this type of sickening act.”
Bellace told ABC he reached out to Clopp on Facebook and wants to apologize to him.
“If he responds back to me, I wouldn’t mind calling him and talking to him and give him my apologies,” Bellace said. “I never meant for this to happen. It should have never happened.”
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