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State Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa can agree with the Leonia decision, disagree with it, or send it back for further investigation.
During an early afternoon news conference, Molinelli displayed aerial views of the crime scene, photographs of the knife the suspect was carrying and evidence including cash and cigarettes, as well as a schematic of the neighborhood with the locations of police officers and the suspect.
STORY, ALL PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia (CLIFFVIEW PILOT)
He also produced a two-dimensional “Leica” film of the scene.
In precise detail, Molinelli explained the procedures police officers are mandated to follow, and why the shooting of Ricky McFadden was unavoidable.
“I am quoting here from statutory language, so bear with me,” the prosecutor said. “When the actor reasonably believes such force is necessary to protect himself or others from injury, that is the justification under the statute for the use of police force.
“McFadden was charging directly at [Palisades Park] Officer [Christopher] Sotto at the time of the shooting,” he said. “The officers were acting to protect themselves.”
Three of the four officers at the scene fired. A fourth, from Palisades Park, refrained because the other officers were in his line of fire.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned that McFadden had $1,750 in cash in his pockets — the proceeds of a holdup at the Broad Avenue CVS moments earlier.
Before the shooting, Leonia Officer Scott Tamagny tried to use his familiarity with McFadden to defuse the situation, Molinelli said.
“He called him by name, and attempted to calm him down,” the prosecutor said.
It didn’t work.
McFadden threatened to kill the officers before charging with the knife, a plastic-handled steel knife with a heavily serrated edge — the kind found in discount stores, Molinelli said.
The prosecutor also showed the surveillance video from the CVS store.
In it, McFadden directs the store manager behind the counter to the cash register, holding the knife. A clerk at an adjacent register turned and saw the knife, then finished checking out his customer. After, Molinelli said, he left the register area and called police.
“That was the first 911 call,” Molinelli said.
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Tamagny is a 19-year veteran of the Leonia police force. Sotto and Kyung Uk (Louis) Lee, of Palisade Park, were in town already answering another call when the dispatcher notified them of the crime in progress. They have 8 and 12 years of service, respectively.
There were 16 shots fired, Molinelli said. Ten of them struck McFadden. His autopsy is waiting for toxicology results to be completed.
Asked if officers should have taken McFadden’s mental condition into consideration, Molinelli responded: “It does not matter when there is a threat. There was both visual and verbal indication he intended to kill them.
“ I cannot offer a medical diagnosis,” he said. “A lot of people have mental illness. You can’t let anyone go who has a weapon.”
Molinelli opened the press conference with a statement of profound regret over today’s school shooting in Connecticut.
“It’s a terrible thing,” he said. “As a parent myself, I can barely comprehend such a crime.”
He went on to commend a teacher who moved children to safety saying, “We ask so much of our teachers these days, besides just teaching.”
CLIFFVIEW PILOT was the first to report exclusively that the officers weren’t the only ones shouting at McFadden to drop the knife two blocks from the drug store he had just robbed: Both a man and woman who witnessed what became a fatal encounter did so, as well (SEE: Civilians urged Leonia robbery suspect to drop knife before shooting).
Both were among no fewer than four civilians who have given similar eyewitness accounts of the broad-daylight events, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. All of them agreed the officers were clearly defending themselves and protecting the public from a serious threat, the website reported.
It is the prosecutor’s responsibility to determine, in counsel with his staff, whether to present such cases to a grand jury or to tell the attorney general that he is satisfied that everything was done by the book.
The grand jury, if given the case, would have decided whether criminal charges were warranted, or whether to issue a “no bill” clearing the officers of any wrongdoing.
The prosecutor’s review include the results of an autopsy conducted after the shooting. Toxicology results are still pending, however.
McFadden’s family earlier this month filed a notice of intent to sue the Palisades Park and Leonia police departments, among others, for wrongful death.
McFadden, who was once pepper-sprayed by Englewood police after he become combative after a traffic accident, had a history of emotional trouble.
He had just turned the corner after pulling a knife on a clerk at the Broad Avenue CVS on Nov. 25 when Tamagny arrived and ordered him to drop the weapon, witnesses said.
McFadden kept walking, however.
Moments later, the three Palisades Park police officers arrived, backing up their colleague.
Despite their attempts to keep McFadden from hurting anyone, the situation escalated over the course of another block, witnesses said.
At the intersection of Hillside and Kingsley avenues, the officers drew closer to McFadden, 47. It was just after 4:30 — still daylight.
Tamagny pepper-sprayed him, but McFadden kept coming, knife in hand, despite the entreaties of both police and civilians, witnesses said.
McFadden, who lived with his parents on Grand Avenue in Leonia, fell on his back, arms outstretched, after the shooting. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead sometime later.
Among the items recovered at the scene was the knife, the empty pepper-spray cannister and items reported taken from the CVS.
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