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Police & Fire
Video Shows Bloodied, Naked, Knife-Wielding Man Shot By Police At Fort Lee Condo Video Shows Bloodied, Naked, Knife-Wielding Man Shot By Police At Fort Lee Condo
Video Shows Bloodied, Naked, Knife-Wielding Man Shot By Police At Fort Lee Condo In what looks like a slasher film, a naked and bloodied man wielding a knife on the debris-strewn terrace of a condominium in Fort Lee is shot and killed by police. Two tactical officers are standing on chairs and a third on a table on a neighboring balcony when Mohamed Bounaouar, 42, of Las Vegas emerges from inside a townhouse at the Cedar Court complex shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2023, police bodycam images released by state authorities on Jan. 12 show. Bounaouar's raised left hand grips a large knife. His mouth and other parts of his body are bloodied. He shouts several words in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Gunman Killed In Confrontation With Manchester Township Police Gunman Killed In Confrontation With Manchester Township Police
Gunman Killed In Confrontation With Manchester Township Police An armed man was shot and killed by police Tuesday night in Manchester Township, authorities confirmed. The officers had responded to a 911 call on Elizabeth Avenue in the Ocean County township shortly before 8:30 p.m. Nov. 6, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. Two of them fired their service weapons, fatally wounding, the gunman after finding him nearly 45 minutes later, the attorney general said Wednesday. "A firearm was recovered near the subject," Platkin added. The man's name was being withheld, at least for the time being. State law and his own guidelines require Pla…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Pedestrian Struck, Killed By Police Vehicle In South Jersey ID'd Pedestrian Struck, Killed By Police Vehicle In South Jersey ID'd
Pedestrian Struck, Killed By Police Vehicle In South Jersey ID'd Authorities identified a man who was struck and killed by a police car in South Jersey before dawn on Thanksgiving as a 44-year-old resident of Berlin. Christofe “Christopher” Wita was hit on the White Horse Pike (Route 30) near Whispering Pine Drive in the Atco section of Camden County's Waterford Township at 2:19 a.m. Nov. 23, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.  Wita was pronounced dead at the scene, Platkin said. Driving was Sgt. Richard Sbarra of the Waterford Township Police Department, who was on duty, he said.  State law and his own guidelines req…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On South Jersey Highway: NJ AG Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On South Jersey Highway: NJ AG
Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On South Jersey Highway: NJ AG A man was struck and killed by a police car in South Jersey before dawn on Thanksgiving, authorities said. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office initially withheld the names of the victim and of the officer driving the vehicle following the crash on the White Horse Pike (Route 30) near Whispering Pine Drive in the Atco section of Camden County's Waterford Township at 2:19 a.m. Nov. 23. State law and his own guidelines require the attorney general to review any and all deaths that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capac…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Detective Justified In Shooting Armed Carjacker, Grand Jury Rules Paterson Detective Justified In Shooting Armed Carjacker, Grand Jury Rules
Paterson Detective Justified In Shooting Armed Carjacker, Grand Jury Rules UPDATE: A plainclothes Paterson police detective was justified in shooting a man who’d just crashed his car into two others, then tried to carjack multiple drivers, a state grand jury has found. Hui Zhang, 33, of Pensacola, FL, was seen in area surveillance video crashing his car into two others that were stopped at the corner of Straight and Van Houten streets late on the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2022. Zhang fled the scene, leaving his car behind, then threatened a group of people who were sitting in a car parked around the corner with what looked like a gun. Zhang fired the weapon, then tri…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Family Ran Multimillion-Dollar Cathouse At Sayreville Strip Club, New Indictment Alleges Family Ran Multimillion-Dollar Cathouse At Sayreville Strip Club, New Indictment Alleges
Family Ran Multimillion-Dollar Cathouse At Sayreville Strip Club, New Indictment Alleges UPDATE: A fierce battle between a Middlesex County family and authorities who've charged them with operating a wildly lucrative whorehouse masquerading as a strip club intensified with a new round of charges. The owners of Club XXXV on Route 35 in Sayreville used “various illegal means to turn their club into a multimillion-dollar racket (that) doubled as a house of prostitution,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said a superseding indictment returned by a grand jury in Trenton alleges. More than $10 million in proceeds from the business “moved through numerous bank accounts c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Corrections Officer Accused Of Smuggling Cold Cuts, Espresso Into NJ Prison For Inmate Indicted Corrections Officer Accused Of Smuggling Cold Cuts, Espresso Into NJ Prison For Inmate Indicted
Corrections Officer Accused Of Smuggling Cold Cuts, Espresso Into NJ Prison For Inmate Indicted UPDATE: A corrections officer who was charged with collecting up to $500 a month in bribes to smuggle cold cuts, espresso, jewelry and cologne into a New Jersey prison for a convict known as “Tommy Two Times” is now under indictment. Werner Gramajo, a 46-year-old senior correctional officer at Northern State Prison in Newark, admitted only to delivering the pressed meats -- and not any of the other items -- after he was caught, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Gramajo, of Newark, also claimed that he wasn’t paid for it, Platkin said in announcing the indictment on Wednes…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
South Jersey Man Killed Himself, Officer Who Fired Weapon Only Grazed Him, Grand Jury Finds South Jersey Man Killed Himself, Officer Who Fired Weapon Only Grazed Him, Grand Jury Finds
South Jersey Man Killed Himself, Officer Who Fired Weapon Only Grazed Him, Grand Jury Finds UPDATE: A Cherry Hill police officer who fired his service weapon at a man who’d just shot himself in a private home last year did nothing wrong, a state grand jury has found. The single shot fired by Officer Jared Fox only grazed Joseph S. Bestic Jr., 63, on Oct. 11, 2022, according to New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. Officers had been called to conduct a welfare check at the home on Chapel Avenue West, the attorney general said. Bestic allowed them in and soon after grabbed a gun and shot himself, Platkin said. He was later pronounced dead at the scene. Platkin’s Office …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Asbury Park PD Not Responsible For Death Of Attempted Murder Suspect, Teen In Crash: Grand Jury Asbury Park PD Not Responsible For Death Of Attempted Murder Suspect, Teen In Crash: Grand Jury
Asbury Park PD Not Responsible For Death Of Attempted Murder Suspect, Teen In Crash: Grand Jury UPDATE: Asbury Park police bear no responsibility for the deaths of a fleeing suspect and a teenage companion in a crash, a state grand jury found. Dishawn Bellamy, 32, and a 17-year-old boy were in a Ford Explorer that sped past two officers headed toward the sound of gunfire in the area of Atkins Avenue and Boston Way in separate cars shortly before 7:30 p.m. on June 5, 2022. One of the officers recognized Bellamy, who "was known to have an active arrest warrant for a charge of attempted murder," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. Both officers activated the emergency ligh…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
ELDER ABUSE: Financial Advisor Swiped $75K, Neglected 90-Year-Old Woman In His Care: NJ AG ELDER ABUSE: Financial Advisor Swiped $75K, Neglected 90-Year-Old Woman In His Care: NJ AG
Elder Abuse: Financial Advisor Swiped $75K, Neglected 90-Year-Old Woman In His Care: NJ AG A financial advisor from Verona abused his authority over a 90-year-old client's finances, stealing $75,000 while neglecting her care and well-being and letting her bills pile up, state authorities charged. John Boston, 47, tried to hide his hiring to manage the woman's affairs and assets, they said. He never told his employer and ignored a federal Financial Industry Regulatory Authority requirement to register the victim as a client, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a joint announcement with Interim Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Al Garcia. After obtaining durable fin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police Had To Shoot Enraged Edison Man Who Charged At Officer With Ax, Grand Jury Finds Police Had To Shoot Enraged Edison Man Who Charged At Officer With Ax, Grand Jury Finds
Police Had To Shoot Enraged Edison Man Who Charged At Officer With Ax, Grand Jury Finds UPDATE: Police were justified in killing an ax-wielding Edison man who got within a few feet of an officer before he was finally shot, a grand jury has found. They'd dealt with Merrill Rambarose, 49, before. Once he was accused of trying to stab a woman at a 7-Eleven and another time he'd allegedly kept them at bay with a knife at the Margate garden apartment complex where the final confrontation occurred. This time police were called by a woman who said they'd gotten into an argument over her smoking in the apartment and "he grabbed an ax and swung it," according to one of the first offi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Moped Driver Killed In Paterson Crash While Fleeing Totowa PD Identified UPDATE: Moped Driver Killed In Paterson Crash While Fleeing Totowa PD Identified
Update: Moped Driver Killed In Paterson Crash While Fleeing Totowa PD Identified UPDATE: Two men on a speeding moped are seen spinning through the air and crashing to the pavement -- ultimately killing the driver -- when they ram the side of a vehicle in Paterson during a police chase, horrific video released by state authorities shows. Pursued by Totowa police, the gas-powered scooter driven by David Lucero, 28, of Paterson was racing north on McBride Avenue along Pennington Park on Sept. 20, 2023 when the driver of an oncoming Lexus sedan made a left in front of him. The moped slammed into the side of the vehicle, knocking both riders nearly 10 feet into the air over …

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by Jerry DeMarco