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Daniel King, 30, of Millville had called 911 seeking a police escort to retrieve a dirt bike from a woman this past July, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said on Friday, Oct. 13.
Platkin released a quartet of videos along with a recording of the phone call, which are part of a review required by New Jersey state law whenever someone dies during or immediately after an encounter with law enforcement.
NJSP Trooper Mark Allonardo responded to King's July 8 call. He offered his help before King suddenly turned on him.
"Hold on, let me record this," King tells Allonardo after pulling out his phone.
“You’re causing the problem and I will sue the hell out of you,” King says.
“I’m glad you did this," King tells Allonardo, "because I’m about to be a f***ing millionaire...a mill-ion-aire....This is your last f***ing job. Thank you. Thaaank you. Racist f***ing cop."
King becomes manic, pacing and repeating the words "I'm rich" as he records the encounter on his cellphone.
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Video from the incident is available here: King Incident (July 8-9, 2023)
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A man who says he's there to buy the dirt bike arrives. He's standing there as King steps to the trooper.
"I've been working hard for this," King tells Allonardo. "Thank the Lord."
King then kneels in front of the trooper and asks to kiss his boots.
Allonardo heads toward his cruiser, telling King there isn't much he can do for him because the woman didn't come to the door.
He asks him for the woman's phone number.
The distance between them closes again, as King pogos and spins around, repeating "I'm rich!"
"She rich, too," he says of the woman in the house. "I'm gonna give her some money."
Allonardo takes down the phone number with some notes as King heads back up the driveway toward the house.
The trooper is talking to the dirt bike buyer when King returns, running toward them.
"Guess what? I'm getting married today! I'm quittin' my job." he shouts.
King starts hopping up and down in front of Allonardo, shouting in the trooper's face.
The trooper remains calm and measured as King berates him, calling Allonardo stupid and racist.
Allonardo finally tells him to back up.
"NO! I don't gotta get outta your face," shouts King, now just inches away, "because you're goin' to jail!"
King continues to repeat his belief that the encounter is going to make him rich. He then pokes the trooper’s bodycam as Allonardo calls for assistance.
“Can we get another backup?” King says, mockingly. “Cause somebody’s goin’ to jail and it ain’t me, bitch.”
“How ‘bout that one? How ‘bout that one?” King says to Allonardo, clapping his hands.
Then everything changes.
“Let’s fight. I’ll take the charge," King says. "Cause you know what….?”
King then steps forward and takes a swing at Allonardo.
The trooper pushes him back and implores him to stop.
“C’mon, dude,” he says.
“Shoot me, bitch,” King says. “Yeah!”
“I’m not shooting you,” the trooper responds.
“Beat me! Beat me! Beat me!” King shouts.
Allonardo, who is holding an extendable self-defense stick, tells him to turn around.
At that point, King charges him. Both men crash through a picket fence.
“What are you doing, dude?" the trooper asks King as they wrestle on the lawn.
"He won't even shoot me," King says.
The struggle continues.
“Get off me, bro,” the trooper says at one point.
A bloodied Allonardo eventually gets King handcuffed and onto his back.
Two good Samaritans who've come to the trooper's aid each help hold King down.
“Papa! Papa!" he yells. "We rich...We rich, Papa. We rich….I won. I’m devious.”
King is rolled onto his stomach and handcuffed as another trooper arrives and takes control of him.
Additional backups arrive as Allonardo gathers himself. One of the civilians gives him some napkins to wipe his face and helps him collect his things.
One of his colleagues checks on Allonardo, who’s OK.
King continues to protest, asking for his phone and telling the troopers to “go away.”
He struggles for a good five minutes before they finally get him into the back of a cruiser for the trip to the NJSP barracks in Upper Deerfield.
Allonardo gets some water.
During the ride, King tries to kick out a window of the police car. He becomes somewhat disoriented and eventually passive.
King later appears dazed as he’s placed into a holding cell.
He suffered a medical episode sometime after that, Platkin said.
Troopers rendered medical help before EMS arrived, the attorney general said. King was taken to Inspira Medical Center in Vineland and died at 11:40 p.m. July 9, he said.
State law and his own guidelines require Platkin to review 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, Platkin said.
Once the investigation by Platkin’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is completed, the results are presented to the grand jury “in a neutral, objective manner, and with appropriate transparency," he said.
The panel then renders a ruling on whether the incident was handled according to the attorney general's guidelines.
Part of the procedure involves publicly releasing all video and other images after first showing them to the person's family – which Platkin said his staff did in this case.
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