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Medical personnel were called to the NJSP Bridgeton station around 8 p.m. Saturday, July 8, after the arrestee became unresponsive, according to a release from the office of state Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
Troopers tried to resuscitate the as-yet unidentified man, who was pronounced dead at Inspira Medical Center in Vineland the following evening -- 11:37 p.m., July 9, to be exact, the attorney general's release says.
State Police had taken him into custody in Fairfield Township on a charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, it says.
Both state law and his own guidelines require the attorney general 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, he 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,” the attorney general said.
The panel then renders a ruling on whether the death was natural or a criminal investigation is warranted.
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