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"Take your gun and shoot me," Joshua Mathis told several police officers before he charged at them and was shot dead in an apartment on Corporal Langon Way on Jan. 9.
Bodycam videos released by Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office clearly captured the confrontation.
Despite the circumstances, state law and his own guidelines required Platkin to investigate the incident and present it to a grand jury.
The panel earlier this week returned a "no bill," meaning no charges should be filed against Officer Christopher Michaels.
Mathis actually made two of three 911 calls of a man with a gun that brought the officers that night, Platkin said.
A woman let them in, and they immediately found Mathis about 20 feet away holding a large knife in his right hand, the videos show.
"This is your space," says an officer who took the lead in talking with Mathis. "No one's coming any closer."
"I don't wanna listen to nobody. I'm ready," Mathis replies. "Take your gun and shoot me."
"Never. Never gonna happen," the officer tells him.
Mathis reaches into his waistband, alarming the officers, before pulling out a plastic gun and tossing it on the floor.
Things happened quickly after that.
"Give me two minutes, 120 seconds to talk to you," the officer says. "Gimme 120, Noah... "
Mathis charges at the officers with the knife as the officer shouts his name again.
Michaels, who'd been next to the negotiating officer, deployed his Taser, but Mathis kept coming.
Another officer wielding a ballistics shield tried knocking him down, but Mathis remained on his feet.
He was within arm's length of another officer, swinging the knife, when Michaels fired his service weapon in order to stop him.
Police and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid. Mathis was pronounced dead at the scene less than a half-hour later.
THE RECORDINGS CAN BE FOUND HERE: Mathis-Hillsborough Recordings (NJ Attorney General)
Platkin is required to investigate any and all 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 goal is to "promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters," he has said.
Once the investigation by his Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) was completed, the results were presented to the grand jury “in a neutral, objective manner, and with appropriate transparency,” the attorney general said.
This included the 911 calls, footage from several police body cameras and the Taser, interviews with the officers, as well as civilian witnesses, and autopsy results.
The resulting "no bill" was returned on Monday, Aug. 14, Platkin said.
“An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm,” the attorney general noted.
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