39°
Newark police did nothing wrong during the encounter, a grand jury has found.
Among the evidence reviewed by the grand jurors are three police bodycams, one of them worn by the officer who began chasing the 43-year-old Newark native on foot after he ran.
Two others graphically document the arrest and the moments that followed as highway traffic barreled by.
In the end, what killed DeJesus was heart disease aggravated by meth use, experts found.
Video of the incident begins with Officer Alberto Vera emerging from his police cruiser and approaching a hooded DeJesus on Orange Street near the Sidi Supermarket on Jan. 5, 2023.
DeJesus had gotten out of a car that was tied to a homicide the month before in Paterson, authorities said at the time.
What the officer and DeJesus initially say to one another either wasn’t recorded or was removed from the video. The end of a question from Vera is barely heard.
“Turn around for what?” DeJesus replies before suddenly taking off on foot.
******
COMPLETE FOOTAGE from the three Newark PD bodycams and three stationary surveillance cameras can be found here: CLICK to review the recordings
******
An area surveillance camera provides a clear view of DeJesus running into a backyard above westbound Route 280. He climbs a shed and dashes across the roof of a pickup truck and then a sedan to a picket fence.
DeJesus flips over the fence on his stomach, drops to the ground and heads for the highway.
Vera is close behind.
The officer climbs atop the wobbly fence, tries to stand while holding naked tree twigs, then struggles with his balance before plunging face-first – and hard -- into a picnic table.
DeJesus ends up jumping from a highway overpass.
Two police body cameras show DeJesus face-down in leaves and trash on the embankment, not moving, as at least a half-dozen uniformed officers clamber down to him.
“Don’t you f---ckin’ reach for shit! Show me your f---kin’ hands!” one officer screams while pulling the motionless suspect’s arms behind his back.
“You f---kin’ waste o’ shit,” he says to DeJesus.
The officer has DeJesus under control as another yells “Don’t you move or you’re f---kin’ dead! You move you’re dead! You move you’re dead!”
The first officer turns DeJesus over and gets help from a colleague in an effort to try and stand him up.
But DeJesus is limp. He mouths the words, “I can’t” as his legs give out.
DeJesus lay handcuffed in the leaves alongside the overpass as the officers check his pockets and the surrounding area.
Then they try to get him to stand again.
“Yo, stop being a bitch,” an officer tells DeJesus when he doesn't.
The officers then grab DeJesus by his clothing and drag him down the embankment to the guardrail.
DeJesus repeatedly winces, telling the officers he can’t breathe.
“You called EMS, right?” one asks another.
The officers prop DeJesus on a guardrail and hold onto him so he doesn’t fall. The suspect continues wincing and drooling before his eyes stay closed.
The officers tell him to relax, that “an ambulance is coming.”
An officer asks him if he wants to sit up or lay down.
“Lay down,” DeJesus replies.
“Ambulance is comin’ – you can lay down on a stretcher,” the same officer then tells him.
Then they bend DeJesus forward and search his pockets for ID.
A throng of officers and others who’ve stopped along the highway gather. Some are recording everything on their phones.
Meanwhile, DeJesus's breathing becomes more shallow. He drifts into incoherence before passing out.
An officer massages DeJesus's chest as the wail of an ambulance is finally heard. Other officers encourage the suffering man to hang in.
Then the video ends.
DeJesus was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark a minute short of an hour from when Vera approached him back on Orange Street.
The State Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and concluded that DeJesus’ death was caused by "coronary artery disease with acute methamphetamine toxicity."
Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's caused when the arteries of the heart cannot deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart.State law and his own guidelines require New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office to investigate deaths that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody," no matter what the circumstances are.
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
Once the investigation by the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) was complete, the results were shared with DeJesus's immediate family and then presented to a grand jury.
******
COMPLETE FOOTAGE from three police bodycams and three stationary surveillance cameras can be found here: CLICK to review the recordings
******
The evidence included interviews of witnesses, photographs, review of surveillance and body-worn camera footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner, Platkin said.
After hearing testimony and reviewing evidence, the grand jurors voted not to bring any charges against Vera and fellow Officer Nicholas Miller, the attorney general said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Fort Lee and receive free news updates.
