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New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin identified the man killed by an Old Bridge police officer in the Laurence Harbor section of town earlier this week as Luke Mendez, 26.
"According to the preliminary investigation, police responded to a 9-1-1 call regarding a dispute on Monday, April 24, 2023 at approximately 3:09 p.m. on Woodland Avenue in Laurence Harbor," Platkin said in a statement on Friday, April 28.
Woodland Avenue is a tiny residential street less than a half mile from Cheesequake State Park.
"Old Bridge Police Officer Christopher Hammel fired his service weapon," Platkin said in his statement. "Mendez was wounded and was transported to Old Bridge Medical Center. He was pronounced deceased at 4:47 p.m. A knife was recovered at the scene near the decedent."
Louie Mendez of Jersey City is having trouble accepting the outcome of the encounter.
"First and foremost I want to say that I am pro-police," he wrote. "I have family members that were LEO [law enforcement officers] now retired. I turned down being a police officer when I was 20. I know how they think. I know how they are!!"
At the same time, Mendez questioned "young" Officer Hammel's actions.
The officer "pointed his gun at my ex-wife as well" during Monday's encounter, he noted.
"I don’t know where to turn, this can’t be happening… cops indiscriminately shooting citizens," Mendez wrote on Thursday.
"Everyone that knows my family know that we are not criminals or bad people," he said. "We are Americans. Law-abiding Americans.
"I can’t believe that this police issue that’s been going around this country for the past few years made it to my doorstep," Mendez added, "nd now I lost my son."
Platkin's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is conducting a review of the incident, as is required by state law and his own guidelines.
Any 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, the attorney general has said.
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas, he said.
Once the investigation by Platkin’s OPIA is completed, the results are presented to the grand jury “in a neutral, objective manner, and with appropriate transparency,” the attorney general said.
The panel then renders a ruling on whether the incident was handled according to the attorney general's guidelines or requires the filing of criminal charges.
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