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Officers responding to a 911 call just before midnight May 24, 2022 found city resident Joseph Robertson, 59, crossing Communipaw Avenue at the corner of West Side Avenue with the female victim.
Video recorded at the scene shows the officers approaching Robertson and ordering him to drop a gun he was carrying.
Robertson instead grabs the woman, puts her in a headlock and points the gun at her head.
Then he shoots her.
Officer Omar Polanco then shoots him twice.
Officers and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid to Robertson, who was pronounced dead at the scene 20 minutes later, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Police seized the gun he'd been carrying, the attorney general said.
The woman received medical attention and survived her injury, he said.
State law and his own guidelines require Platkin's office to investigate all deaths that occur in New Jersey “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody," even in cases as clear-cut as the Robertson shooting.
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation by the his Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury.
Grand jurors reviewed a host of evidence in the Roberson incidents, including witness interviews, photographs, medical records, the video footage and the results of an autopsy by a medical examiner.
They concluded deliberations on Monday, Oct. 2, by voting a "no bill" -- essentially declaring it a clean shoot, Platkin said.
Video footage and a 911 call capturing the events surrounding the shooting were previously released.
You can view them at the link below.
SEE: Robertson / Jersey City Police
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