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Authorities haven't identified the man, disclosed his condition or specified why and how he was wounded at the Clara Barton Service Area near the turnpike's southernmost in Salem County's Pedricktown shortly after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28.
The incident "involved members of the New Jersey State Police and the United States Marshals Service," a four-sentence release from State Attorney General Matthew Platkin's Office says.
No officers reportedly were wounded, it says.
What officers in tactical gear with a mobile SWAT unit were doing there wasn't explained.
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, 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 it was a clean shoot or a criminal investigation is warranted.
“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,” Platkin has noted.
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