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Man pees on child’s memorial, gets fired by his own father

Posted at 9:01 AM, May 23, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-23 09:01:17-04

A New Jersey man who was filmed grinning as he urinated on a memorial to a dead child has been fired by his boss—who happens to be his father.

Bryan Bellace, 23, was wearing a shirt with the Bruce Bellace Plumbing and Heating logo as he peed on the memorial to 9-year-old Christian Clopp in a Mays Landing playground after placing a beer can on the ground.

“I had to remove him from employment,” Bruce Bellace tells the Press of Atlantic City. “We apologized to the family … I’m sorry for his actions. I’m not proud of him.”

He says he has received at least a dozen phone calls from people outraged by his son’s behavior.

“Ultimately it’s my fault,” he says. “Maybe we didn’t teach him right.”

Bellace, 23, was arrested Sunday for offenses including lewdness and disorderly conduct. He apologized Monday, telling ABC he made a “huge mistake” and was so drunk he didn’t know what he was doing.

Christian Clopp died from a brain tumor in 2012. His father, Mark Clopp, tells Fox that he was initially furious, but Bryan Bellace has personally apologized and he has forgiven him.

“With all the craziness in the world today, I thought it was a teaching moment, where instead of reacting with violence or negativity, a lot can be accomplished by using some intelligence,” the retired police officer says. CBS reports that residents who saw the video immediately went to the playground and cleaned up the area. (Read more New Jersey stories.)

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