Roselle Park Police Mourn Off-Duty Officer Who Authorities Said Shot Himself Dead In SUV Crash

The Roselle Park Police Department is mourning an officer who authorities said was off duty when he shot and killed himself after his car crashed into a pair of parked vehicles Sunday in Matawan.

Roselle Park Police Officer Edward Nortrup was off-duty when he shot and killed himself after crashing his SUV in Matawan, authorities said.
Photo Credit: *Judi Stevenson-Garcia/Roselle Park Police Departent*

Cecilia Levine

01/20/2020 10:36 a.m.

Edward Nortrup, 39, was behind the wheel of his SUV when it partially rolled over after crashing near a two-story home on Broad Street across from the borough's municipal center, trapping him, around noon, authorities said Monday.

He was alive as first responders left his car to get equipment for extraction, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Chris Swendeman said in an email.

The officer then "located located a firearm and fatally shot himself in the head,” Swendeman said.

Nortrup of Aberdeen was a 13 year veteran of the Roselle Park Police Department. He graduated from the John H. Stamler Police Academy in 2007.

He went on to serve in the department's detective bureau and had been a member of the Union County Emergency Response Team.

"Patrolman Nortrup was a co-worker, friend, and a brother," RPPD Chief Daniel J. McCaffery said.

"Always willing to help others, Patrolman Nortrup was a well-respected member of the law-enforcement community, and will be sorely missed. We would ask that you respect the privacy of the family during this time of grieving."

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