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Raaseon Adams, 45, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center at 7:10 p.m. less than a half hour after he was shot on Summer Street near Hamilton Avenue, authorities said.
They didn't say whether the shooter had been arrested or identified.
A video of city police using force to arrest Adams in September 2018 produced a viral video and an investigation by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office – in conjunction with the state Attorney General’s Office – that found no wrongdoing on the part of the officers.
Authorities said Adams appeared intoxicated when he and several other people approached officers making a drug arrest that day on Godwin Avenue between Rosa Parks Boulevard and Carroll Street.
Police said he tried to snatch keys to a vehicle they’d stopped from the hands of an officer.
They ordered him to leave, but he remained as friends tried to convince him to comply – while alerting police to his disability.
He then flicked a lighted cigarette at an officer, prompting his arrest.
The video shows Adams flailing and trying to avoid the arrest before officers took him down.
One officer punches and elbows Adams before he’s finally pepper-sprayed.
Police eventually got Adams handcuffed in front of his body, but he threw himself to the ground and had to be taken to a hospital for an evaluation, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said at the time.
He was later charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest before pleading guilty to a disorderly persons obstruction charge and paying a fine.
Adams's death makes four killings in nearly a dozen shootings since last fall.
It was also the fifth shooting in a little over 48 hours this weekend.
WILD NIGHT: Four Wounded As Bullets Fly In Paterson
All told, seven people have been killed and 33 shootings have been reported in Paterson the first four months of 2021.
Pro-rated over a year, it would give the city more homicides than last year's 27, which was the most in more than 30 years. Total shootings would also surpass last year's 123, the most in over a decade.
Sunday night's victim hadn't been identified as of mid-morning Monday.
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora were expected to release more details at some point.
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