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39°
Saturday, nov 23
Tag:
Grand Jury
Police & Fire
AG IDs Man Who Plunged To His Death During Hudson County Police Pursuit
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has identified the man who died during a police encounter in Hudson County last week as a 26-year-old Texas man. Authorities on Friday, Nov. 22, named Brandon Lee Ortega as the individual who died following a foot chase with Guttenberg police on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The incident began around 11:02 p.m. when officers responded to 68th Street and Bellevue Avenue for a reported disturbance. Police were informed that one of the individuals involved, later identified as Ortega, was armed with a gun, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Guttenberg Pol…
Police & Fire
NJ Teacher's Aide Slammed, Dragged Toddler At Montessori School: Prosecutor
A teacher’s aide at Apple Montessori School in Wayne has been charged with child abuse following an incident in which she allegedly assaulted a two-year-old in her care, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office announced. Meghan Hornidge, 19, of River Edge, was charged with fourth-degree abuse of a child and simple assault, stemming from an investigation conducted by the Special Victims Unit, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said. The investigation began on Aug. 13, 2024, when the Prosecutor’s Office received a report that Hornidge had reportedly slammed and dragged the …
Police & Fire
Troopers Won't Be Charged For South Jersey Man's Death In Police Custody, AG's Office Says
No state troopers will face criminal charges after a Millville man died while in police custody, authorities said. A state grand jury voted to not file any charges related to the death of 30-year-old Daniel King, the state Office of the Attorney General said in a news release on Monday, Oct. 1. King died more than 24 hours after he was arrested in Fairfield Township. Investigators said Trooper Mark Allonardo responded to a home on Fordville Road at around 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 8, 2023. King had requested a police escort to retrieve property at the home.…
Police & Fire
'I Just Struck a Pedestrian': 911 Call Released In Deadly Cyclist Crash Involving Trooper
The New Jersey State Attorney General's Office released surveillance camera footage and police radio transmissions after a state trooper struck and killed a Morris County cyclist in February. At 6 a.m., on Monday, February 5, Kesene Grier was driving an unmarked police SUV when she struck Raul Diaz, a 59-year-old Long Valley resident in Hackettstown, the state attorney general's office said. Diaz was transported to Hackettstown Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, the state attorney general's office. "I just struck a pedestrian on a bike," Grier is heard saying on police radio…
Police & Fire
Update
: State Authorities Probe Police Vehicle Crash In Sussex County That Killed Woman, 19
State authorities are investigating a police-involved Memorial Day crash in Sussex County that killed a 19-year-old passenger in a private vehicle. The on-duty officer's car T-boned the civilian vehicle outside the ShopRite of Franklin shopping center on Route 23 at Walsh Road, according to witnesses, shortly after 10:30 a.m. May 27. Deanna D’Arco was rushed to Morristown Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. Her organs were donated through the New Jersey Sharing Network. ****** GoFundMe verified a fundraiser to help support D'Arco's family cov…
Police & Fire
Deputy Marshals Justified Shooting Machete-Wielding Murder Fugitive In Jersey City: Grand Jury
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Two deputy U.S. Marshals were justified in shooting a fugitive murderer from Florida who came at them with a hatchet when they tracked him down in Jersey City, a New Jersey grand jury has ruled. Esteban DeJesus, Jr., 56, of Orlando was wanted for shooting and killing his 67-year-old next-door neighbor and wounding her husband the day before the deputy marshals found him. New Jersey law requires a grand jury review of all deaths that occur during or after encounters with law enforcement. State investigators had a clear-cut case involving DeJesus, who police in Orlando said attacked …
Police & Fire
NO
Choice
: Police Justified Shooting Knife-Wielding NJ Man, Grand Jury Finds
UPDATE: Police were justified in shooting a New Jersey man seen on bodycam video charging at an officer with a knife, a grand jury investigation required by state law found. Luke Mendez, 26, had his wrapped around the knife handle as he barreled down the steps of an Old Bridge home last April 24. Mendez was only two steps from the landing -- less than three feet from an Old Bridge officer -- when he left police no choice. Mendez was pronounced dead at a local hospital about 90 minutes later. Grand jurors reviewed various evidence but didn't really need any more than the bodycam video…
Police & Fire
Cleared
: Officer Not At Fault In Fatal South Jersey Stolen Motorcycle Crash, Grand Jury Rules
UPDATE: A New Jersey police officer did nothing wrong in pursuing a stolen motorcycle whose driver ended up dying in a subsequent crash, a grand jury has ruled. Despite the obvious circumstances, state law and administrative guidelines required New Jersey Attorney Matthew Platkin to investigate the death last April 20 of John R. Nutt, 41, of Mount Laurel because a law enforcement officer was involved. Platkin's office released video last July from both the dashcam of the pursuing officer and the bodycam of a colleague who arrived from the opposite direction after the crash. Also relea…
Police & Fire
Grand Jury Backs Elizabeth Officer Who Stopped Knife-Wielding Man Attempting To Stab Woman
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An Elizabeth police officer was fully justified in neutralizing an enraged man who went after a woman with a long-bladed knife last summer, a state grand jury has found. New Jersey law requires grand jury reviews of all fatal police shootings even when police bodycam video is clear -- as in this case -- and there's no mistaking the series of events (ditto). This one was literally over in seconds. Officer Steven Lazo and his partner had just responded to a 911 call of an unwanted person involved in a dispute on Amity Street shortly after 8 a.m. July 29, when the incident occurred. …
Police & Fire
Heart Disease Aggravated By Meth Use Killed Newark Suspect Following Arrest: Medical Examiner
It’s unsettling to watch video of a suspect you know has died. The last moments for Raul DeJesus -- who led Newark police on a foot chase before collapsing near Route 280 -- are no exception. Newark police did nothing wrong during the encounter, a grand jury has found. Among the evidence reviewed by the grand jurors are three police bodycams, one of them worn by the officer who began chasing the 43-year-old Newark native on foot after he ran. Two others graphically document the arrest and the moments that followed as highway traffic barreled by. In the end, what killed DeJesus was heart …
Police & Fire
Paterson Detective Justified Shooting Gunman Who Opened Fire In Alleyway, NJ Grand Jurors Rule
An armed suspect in a dark alley pulled a gun from his sweatshirt pocket, pointed it at a Paterson detective standing a few feet away and pulled the trigger. What Thelonious McKnight, 25, didn’t know was that the gun’s safety was on. He took the safety off, exchanged gunfire with another detective and was shot. The fatal Dec. 29, 2021 police shooting was justified, a state-mandated review by a grand jury has found, authorities reported on Tuesday, Dec. 12. It was earlier that night when a detective watching images from street surveillance cameras at headquarters saw McKnight and another m…
Police & Fire
Gunman Killed In Confrontation With Manchester Township Police
An armed man was shot and killed by police Tuesday night in Manchester Township, authorities confirmed. The officers had responded to a 911 call on Elizabeth Avenue in the Ocean County township shortly before 8:30 p.m. Nov. 6, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. Two of them fired their service weapons, fatally wounding, the gunman after finding him nearly 45 minutes later, the attorney general said Wednesday. "A firearm was recovered near the subject," Platkin added. The man's name was being withheld, at least for the time being. State law and his own guidelines require Pla…
Police & Fire
Police Were Justified Killing Fugitive Who Shot Woman In Elmwood Park, Grand Jury Finds
UPDATE: Police were justified in killing an armed ex-con wanted for shooting a New Milford woman in Elmwood Park, a grand jury has found. James Allandale, 61, immediately opened fire on officers who found him at the Knights Inn Pinebook on Route 46 in Montville this past New Year's Eve. He was shot and killed in the exchange of gunfire. Allandale -- whose real name is James Allan -- became the target of an intense manhunt after he shot Cynthia Greco of New Milford at 113 Lincoln Avenue shortly before 5:30 p.m. Dec. 27, 2022. The home is owned by Allandale's girlfriend, Lisa Dolack, who …
Police & Fire
Asbury Park PD Not Responsible For Death Of Attempted Murder Suspect, Teen In Crash: Grand Jury
UPDATE: Asbury Park police bear no responsibility for the deaths of a fleeing suspect and a teenage companion in a crash, a state grand jury found. Dishawn Bellamy, 32, and a 17-year-old boy were in a Ford Explorer that sped past two officers headed toward the sound of gunfire in the area of Atkins Avenue and Boston Way in separate cars shortly before 7:30 p.m. on June 5, 2022. One of the officers recognized Bellamy, who "was known to have an active arrest warrant for a charge of attempted murder," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. Both officers activated the emergency ligh…
Police & Fire
Hero
: Jersey City Officer Justified In Gunning Down Suspect Who Shot Woman, Grand Jury Finds
UPDATE: A heroic Jersey City police officer was justified in gunning down a man who'd just deliberately shot a woman in the chest during a domestic dispute, a state-mandated review by a grand jury has found. 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 th…
Police & Fire
Police Fully Justified In Shooting West New York Man Who Fired At Them, Grand Jury Rules
It was as open-and-shut as a police shooting can possibly get. That’s why a state grand jury found that police were more than justified in shooting a West New York gunman who’d just wounded one officer while firing point-blank at them with a gun in each hand. Dramatic police bodycam footage shows Kevin Colindres, 32, opening fire after emerging from his 59th Street home on June 3, 2022. In a clip recorded through the front-door window, Colindres is seen entering the vestibule in a t-shirt and shorts with both hands behind his back as police investigate a domestic violence call. He sudden…
Police & Fire
Officer Not At Fault In Death Of Pedestrian Hit By Police Car On Route 18, NJ Grand Jury Finds
UPDATE: A state grand jury has cleared an East Brunswick police officer who was responding to a crash when he struck and killed a 55-year-old Edison man as he stood on darkened Route 18 in the middle of the night. Julius Filep had gotten out of his disabled car after it struck debris scattered across the highway when a sleeping driver slammed into a utility pole on the northbound side shortly after 3:30 a.m. Aug. 1, 2021, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. A third vehicle, as well as an 18-wheel truck, drove over the debris, igniting fiery, arching electrical wires, the attor…
Police & Fire
Officers Justified In Downing Gunman In Jersey Shore Shootout, Grand Jury Finds
UPDATE: Police in Long Branch were justified in taking out a gunman who wounded a detective, started a fire and then came out shooting while trying to flee with an infant in his arms, a grand jury has found. New Jersey law requires that all civilian deaths involving police be investigated and presented to a grand jury no matter the circumstances. Grand jurors in this case had plenty of evidence supporting the Nov. 6, 2021 shooting death of Mark D. Walker II, 34, of Woodbridge, Virginia, after a nine-hour standoff. A Monmouth County prosecutor's detective was trying to serve a warrant that …
News
NJ Attorney General: Agitated Paterson Man Seized By Police Died Of Drug OD
UPDATE: An agitated suspect who died while being taken into custody by Paterson police was the victim of a drug overdose, authorities said. The autopsy results were among the evidence reviewed by a grand jury that found police bore no responsibility for the death of Jose Gonzalez, 41, on Oct. 2, 2021, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced on Monday, Dec. 5. Police body camera video previously released by Platkin's office showed Gonzalez writhing uncontrollably, falling down and then going limp while being handcuffed by Paterson police that fateful day. His shorts were s…
News
Carjacker Shot By Paterson Detective Was Armed With Blank Pistol: NJ Attorney General
A 33-year-old motorist shot and killed by Paterson police was armed with what police later found was a blank pistol as he tried to seize other vehicles after fleeing a crash on foot, authorities said. Hui Zhang, 33, of Pensacola, FL, was identified as the man who died in the police-involved shooting on Oct. 10. Zhang was involved in a collision in the area of Straight and Van Houten streets at 4:12 p.m. that day, according to a release from New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin's office. Zhang "ran from the scene" and "attempted to enter multiple other vehicles, armed with what a…
News
Police-Involved Shooting Reported In Englewood
Police responding to a stabbing in Englewood were involved in a fatal shooting, according to multiple sources. CPR was in progress as a shooting victim was taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in grave condition with a gunshot wound in the chest following the incident on West Englewood Avenue off the corner of Reade Street shortly before 8:30 a.m. Saturday, they said. He was pronounced dead at EHMC at 9:17 a.m., according to the office of Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin in Trenton. His identity was temporarily being withheld. At least two stabbing victims we…
News
Body Of Man Chased By Police Pulled From Passaic River Two Days Later
The death of a man whose body was recovered from the Passaic River following a police chase was being investigated by county and state authorities, a family member said she was told. Meanwhile, she and other loved ones wait in anguish for answers. Everyone agrees that the body retrieved from the river below Route 21 Monday evening was that of Thadius Wilder, a 35-year-old father of five from Passaic. Wilder, who had a history of drug arrests, was last seen running from police on that very same highway on Saturday, said his sister, Amber Wilder-Hunter. Wilder-Hunter filed a missing person…
News
Grand Jury: Morris Police Sergeant Justified Shooting Man Pointing Airsoft Gun
UPDATE: A police sergeant was justified in shooting a Morris Township man who pointed an airsoft gun at him during a domestic disturbance call, a state grand jury has ruled. Timothy O’Shea, 24, was bleeding from the neck and wrists when officers responding to a 911 call found him in the driveway of his Fairchild Avenue home on July 14, 2020, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said Tuesday, April 12. Several responding officers -- from the township, Morris Plains and Morristown – had gotten the older female caller to safety when they encountered O’Shea, the attorney genera…
News
Clean
Shoot
: Passaic Sheriff's Sergeants Legally Killed Suspect Who Pulled, Pointed Gun
A trio of Passaic County sheriff’s sergeants were justified in shooting a man who’d pulled a gun and pointed it directly at them following a foot chase in Paterson, a state grand jury has found. 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 …
News
Paterson Police Justified In Shooting Agitated Gunman Who Pointed Weapon At Them: Grand Jury
Paterson police were justified in shooting a gunman after he refused to drop his weapon and then raised it in a confrontation, a grand jury has found. Bystanders looked on in horror as Luan Agolli, 42, of Pequannock lifted the gun several times, refusing to drop it, before police shot and killed him as he paced the intersection of Carroll and Harrison streets on April 23, 2020. Video obtained by Daily Voice also captured the fatal confrontation. Agolli held the weapon with both hands and pointed it at the converging officers several times. "I'm giving him all these opportunities," an off…
News
AG: Somerset County Man Shot By Police Came At Them With Large Knife
A man shot and killed by local police in Somerset County came at officers with a large knife, New Jersey's top law enforcement official said Wednesday. Joshua Mathis 19, confronted Hillsborough police who responded to a report of a man with a gun at an apartment on Corporal Langon Way shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. Mathis "was holding a large knife" and "advanced toward the officers with the knife" in the apartment, Bruck said. An officer fired his service weapon, stopping Mathis, he said. Police and EMS workers rendered first aid bef…
News
South Jersey Man In Fatal Police Shooting Identified
A man shot and killed in a confrontation with police in South Jersey was identified as a lifelong Millville resident who served in the Iraq War. Officers responding to a 911 call encountered Daniel Ackley, 33, outside his family's Burns Road home in Millville shortly after 9:30 p.m. last Tuesday, Acting State Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. "After officers arrived, they encountered Mr. Ackley holding a machete outside the house," Bruck said. As Ackley "advanced toward the officers," one of them fired his service weapon, the attorney general said. Officers and emergency medical pers…
News
Man, 20, Shot By Police In NJ Backhoe Rampage ID'd
Authorities on Wednesday identified a rampaging man who was shot and killed by a police officer in South Jersey after he damaged two police vehicles, an ambulance and an occupied civilian sedan with a hijacked backhoe. Joshua Gonzalez, 20, of Millville, kept police at bay for nearly a half-hour during the rampage in Vineland, which began around 5 a.m. Dec. 18, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. Video shows one police vehicle being smashed and another being knocked onto its side. An ambulance was toppled, and a sedan was repeatedly struck with a female driver inside. …
News
South Jersey Man Shot, Killed In Encounter With Police
A man was shot and killed during an encounter with police early Saturday in South Jersey, authorities confirmed. Three Vineland police officers sustained minor injuries during the 5:30 a.m. incident at the Penn Lincoln Mobile Home Park in Cumberland County, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. One of the officers "fired his service weapon, fatally wounding the man," Bruck said. "First aid was rendered by officers and emergency medical personnel. The man was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 5:48 a.m." The identities of the man and the officers were being wit…
News
Highway
Horror
: Two Children Killed When Wrong-Way Vehicle Slams Into Police Car In NJ
Two children were killed when a wrong-way vehicle collided with a police car at a Route 1 intersection in Middlesex County late on Thanksgiving Day, authorities confirmed. The driver of the civilian vehicle slammed into an Old Bridge Township police cruiser containing two officers and a civilian at the intersection of Route 1 and Route 130 in North Brunswick shortly after 11:30 p.m., Acting New Jersey Attorney Andrew J. Bruck said Friday. "Both children in the civilian vehicle died from injuries sustained in the crash," Bruck said. "Both officers and the civilian within the police vehicle s…
Police & Fire
NJ Attorney General: Man Shot Dead At Hillsborough Home By Police Responding To 911 Call
A man was killed in a police-involved shooting at a Hillsborough home, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Township officers had responded to a 911 emergency call at the Piedmont Path residence shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. An officer discharged his service weapon during an encounter at the home, Bruck said. The resident, who wasn't immediately identified, was mortally wounded, he said. Officers and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid to the resident before he was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brun…
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