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A gunshot detection sensor brought city police and sheriff’s officers to Park Avenue near Straight Street shortly after 1 a.m. on May 23, 2020.
No victim was found, but police did recover three 9mm casings.
A short time later, sheriff’s Sgts. Americo Escobar, Helman Fava and Jose Vargas spotted a large group of people gathered at Summit Street and Park Avenue. Attention there was focused on a man heading north on Summer Street, the sergeants said.
That man, Christopher Clark, unsuccessfully tried to enter an apartment building, after which the sergeants pulled up to check on his welfare, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Vargas, who was in the front passenger seat, got out and was approaching him when Clark bolted, Platkin said.
Vargas chased him on foot down 16th Avenue, with Fava and Escobar following in the patrol car – eventually driving in the opposite direction of one-way traffic, the attorney general said.
Halfway up the block, Clark tripped and fell. Vargas pulled his service weapon and ordered him to stay there, Platkin said.
“A civilian witness reported hearing a uniformed officer shout ‘freeze’ and seeing [Clark] fall,” the attorney general said. “The civilian witness stated that [Clark] was not obeying the officer’s commands, and that [he] rolled over, faced the officer, and reached toward his waistband.”
Fava and Escobar had joined Vargas as Clark rose from the ground, pointing a gun with his right hand from point-blank range, Platkin said.
“Gun!” Vargas yelled before firing at him, the attorney general said. Fava and Escobar fired, too, he said.
Paterson police recovered the gun, a .45-caliber Hi Point with a bullet in the chamber, as well as a loaded magazine a short distance away from Clark, who was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later, Platkin said.
State law and his own guidelines require the attorney general’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, he said.
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) is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury.
In this case, grand jurors reviewed witness interviews, video footage, forensic evidence and autopsy results, Platkin said.
They concluded that the sergeants were justified in using deadly force because they reasonably believed it was necessary as protection from death or serious bodily harm, he said.
The grand jurors returned a “no bill” on Tuesday, Feb. 22 -- meaning a majority of them found nothing potentially criminal in the sergeants’ response.
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