Police Justified In Shooting Jersey Shore Drugstore Robber Who Stabbed Officer, Grand Jury Says

James Sutton, 55, of Keansburg, was holding up the Keansburg Pharmacy in Keansburg Plaza on Main Street when officers responding to multiple 911 calls arrived shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2022, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.

Sutton had “demanded oxycodone, and was holding a pharmacy employee at knifepoint,” Platkin said.

Two officers deployed their Tasers with no effect, the attorney general said.

Lt. Dennis Valle was stabbed in the shoulder as he tried to rescue the pharmacy worker, Platkin said.

At that point, three other officers fired their service weapons at Sutton.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, Platkin said.

Valle later recovered after being treated at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, the attorney general said.

Sutton, a gas station attendant who lived his entire life in Keansburg, had a criminal history stretching back nearly 35 years, with arrests for burglary, aggravated assault and forgery, among other offenses, records show.

Despite the circumstances, both state law and Platkin’s own guidelines require the attorney general to investigate any and all 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."

The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner."

The case was presented to the grand jury – again, as is required. It included “interviews of witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of video footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner,” Platkin said.

Grand jurors completed deliberations on Monday before voting a "no bill" -- meaning there was no cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of police, the attorney general said.

“An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm,” Platkin noted.

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