Bryan Bellace from Egg Harbor City becomes most hated on the internet after viral video caught the drunk man urinating on a monument for brain cancer sufferer boy, Christian Clopp.
A man caught on video urinating on a memorial for a nine-year-old boy who died of brain cancer says he was drunk and admits having made a ‘huge mistake’.
Bryan Bellace, 23, was arrested and charged on Sunday for defacing the monument in a New Jersey park dedicated to Christian Thomas Clopp, who died in 2012.
Bellace’s friend Daniel Flippen, 23, filmed the video (see below) and was also arrested after posting the footage on Facebook.
Police said a family friend saw the video on social media and notified the child’s relatives.
#BREAKING UPDATE: 2 men were arrested and charged after video surfaced showing one of them urinating on a memorial for an NJ boy who died of cancer, police said: https://t.co/ej2uGG4gm6 pic.twitter.com/VL0AvTmqPw
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) May 20, 2019
Bellace told ABC News that he was drunk and ‘not even remembering’ getting to the park with his friend.
‘It was a big mistake I made. I was intoxicated. 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,’ he said.
‘I wish I could take it all back and make things right, but it happened.’
He said he has reached out to Christian’s family to apologize.
‘I can ask for forgiveness from the family. I’ve reached out and I apologized for what I’ve done. This should have never happened,’ Bellace said.
Christian Thomas Clopp father responds calling Bryan Bellace and Daniel Flippen, ‘scumbags’.
Bellace’s father told The Press of Atlantic City so repulsed was he that he fired his son from the family plumbing business.
Volunteers have since disinfected the memorial.
Christian’s father, Mark Clopp responding to the incident, said he was ‘disgusted’ while calling the suspects ‘scumbags’.
He said his friends and neighbors had come together to clean up the memorial and the park.
‘Aside from the two morons facing criminal charges, I saw a community once again come together for a cause,’ said Clopp, a retired police officer.
‘I’ve heard from hundreds of people offering assistance. Friends and strangers went to wash the memorial off. At the end of the day, the good outweighed and overwhelmed the bad. This is what Christian did during his life.
‘He brought people together and he has accomplished that again.
‘Perhaps the playground will be beautified, maybe expanded as a result. It doesn’t matter, as long as it is enjoyed by thousands of children in the future.
‘If we let anger prevail, we’ve lost the battle. Thanks again, everyone, for coming together and showing how great our community can be.’
In an earlier Facebook post he said: ‘We do not personally know these individuals or why they would do such a thing.
‘Losing a child is an horrific experience that, to say the least is life changing. When all you have are memories and someone does that it is heartbreaking.
‘We will get past it and handle the matter intelligently through the justice system.
‘While punishment will probably never change the way they think, we can only hope they someday learn empathy and pass it on.’
Bryan Bellace: ‘No love for me on social media?’
Police said they had investigated the ‘disturbing’ video and charged Bellace, from Egg Harbor City, with lewdness, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
Flippen, of Hammonton, is accused of having an open alcoholic beverage in a park.
A plaque on the memorial reads: ‘A child who made the world a better place through his courage, faith, smile, laughter and love of others.
‘May your memory and inspiration live on forever.’
And then there were these reactions on social media too….
Bryan Bellace, of Egg Harbor, urinated on the memorial while his friend, Daniel Flippen of Hammonton, created the video. Both these ‘men’ are disgusting and should be extremely ashamed of themselves. Glad charges have been laid. https://t.co/6kjmPKmKmd
— Sandra P. Cole (@Sandra_Cole44) May 20, 2019
Police have since charged the men allegedly behind the video, Bryan Bellace and Daniel Flippen, both 23. both slaptard idiots https://t.co/suBnlW4d0P
— Nathan S. (@1977Towerburn) May 20, 2019