The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Fort Lee NJ, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced changes to the Use of Force policy for New Jersey law enforcement, revisions that are designed to increase the likelihood of peaceful resolutions to encounters between police and barricaded individuals, who are frequently in a behavioral or mental health crisis.
Continue reading After Fort Lee Incident NJ Attorney General Updates Police Use of Force Policy
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Bass River NJ, The Attorney General’s Office today released audio and video recordings related to the shooting on May 23, 2020 on the Garden State Parkway in Bass River, in which a New Jersey State Trooper fatally shot Maurice Gordon, 28, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The Attorney General’s Office today also released the identity of the State Trooper who shot and killed Mr. Gordon. He is Sgt. Randall Wetzel of Troop “D” of the New Jersey State Police.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Wayne NJ, The Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation of a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred yesterday, April 26, in Wayne, N.J. One male civilian sustained fatal injuries.
The decedent has been identified as Bradley G. Pullman, 48, of Beacon, N.Y.
photo by Boyd Loving
By Graham Deese / July 20, 2016
MADISON, Wisconsin — Members of Shielded Hearts, a group of wives and loved ones of police officers, spoke out Tuesday about the impact the recent shootings are having on their families.
Tina Colon, a Shielded Hearts member, said her husband, Officer Vidal Colon, was shot in 2009 while on patrol.
The Colons’ 11-year-old daughter discovered her father had been shot when she saw him being carted away on the news. Tina received the phone call telling her what had happened while in the presence of her other children. She lost control and collapsed to the ground.
Witnessing this event traumatized the children and left emotional scars that persist to this day, she said.
“I will never forget their faces. I will never forget that phone call.” Colon said.
Fortunately, Vidal Colon survived the attack.
Tina Colon praises Shielded Hearts for aiding her long, slow process to recovery.
“This organization helped me find the strength I needed,” she said.
Mike Crivello, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, spoke on the impact the increasing violence against police officers is having on families. Goodbye hugs last longer, spouses watch their loved ones leave for work each day and they are increasingly grateful for all contact they receive throughout the day, Crivello said.
Tina Colon also talked about how difficult it was for her and other wives of officers to reassure their children, friends and themselves that their loved ones were coming home each day, “when we can’t guarantee that.”
Teresa Robinson, executive director of Shielded Hearts, argued that amidst all the controversy people forget the human side of officers. “People don’t see the real person behind the badge.” she said.
Crivello echoed this sentiment: “It’s really important that the community knows that those individuals riding out in those squads, wearing those uniforms, are human beings.”
Recent events have made life harder on officers, Robinson said. They wanted to protect and serve the community but instead are hated and persecuted, she argues.
“This is not what our officers signed up for,” Robinson said.
Dana Carpenter, another Shielded Hearts member, argued it wasn’t like this 15 years ago. “They were valued, they were respected, but times have changed,” she said.
The Shielded Hearts members emphasized the need for people to show support for law enforcement officers in their community.
Colon argued that, “any little bit of support and positive gestures towards our law enforcement” can help. While acknowledging there are no simple answers, she urged community members not to underestimate the power of positivity.
“We want the community to stand up and show support.” Robinson said.
Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers for our Baton Rouge Police Department officers and our Baton Rouge community.
Currently, BRPD and our partner law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal levels are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this morning’s shooting, and updates will be forthcoming throughout the day. In the meantime, if you have any tips that may help in this investigation, please contact Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers by calling 344-STOP (7867). You can also text Crime Stoppers by sending “CS225 plus your message” to 274637 (CRIMES).
The following road closures remain in effect:
– Airline Highway, from Interstate 12 to Old Hammond Highway (both directions)
– Old Hammond Highway, from Airline Highway to Tara Boulevard (both directions)
Please share this post and check back regularly – more updates to come from both this page and via our official City of Baton Rouge Twitter account: www.twitter.com/thecityofbr.
Another reminder this morning of the dangers and the quick decisions NJ police sometimes have to make. This gun was being held by a man on Route 17 in Rochelle Park. It’s a BB gun, but the Bergen County prosecutor says the orange tip had been painted over. Is there any realistic way for the officers involved not to have believed that was a real gun? The man was shot and is at the hospital
DECEMBER 14, 2015, 7:46 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015, 6:43 AM
BY RICHARD COWEN AND JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Why a Maywood man had a BB gun whose orange tip had been painted black is one of the questions detectives were investigating Monday after the man crashed a car outside the Bergen County Board of Social Services office and was shot by two Rochelle Park police officers.
The shooting occurred at 3:27 a.m. after police were called to the building at 218 Route 17 north by security officers, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said via his Twitter account.
The driver remained inside the Toyota sedan after he crashed it in a driveway, the prosecutor said. The officers’ shots struck him in the lower body.
Molinelli identified the driver as Matthew S. Chaseman, 46, of 14 Marlboro Court in Maywood, and said his injuries did not appear to require surgery.
Chaseman was being treated Monday at Hackensack University Medical Center. The officers were not injured in the incident, which delayed operations at the Social Services office for several hours.
As of late Monday afternoon, authorities had not provided a detailed explanation of what had prompted the shots, which also shattered the rear window on the driver’s side of the car.
A Teaneck couple who identified themselves as Chaseman’s parents pulled into the driveway of their home shortly before 3:30 p.m.
The woman said she had called the hospital. “He’s going to be fine,” she said. “We’re not at all concerned.”
file photo by Boyd Loving
JUNE 13, 2015, 3:34 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 11:59 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
With three fatal shootings involving police in Bergen County within the past month, attention has turned again to stun guns as an alternative to the use of deadly force by officers. But the devices, which incapacitate suspects with a temporary electronic pulse, remain unavailable to most police agencies in the county, and in the state as a whole.
New Jersey, the final state in the country to approve the use of stun guns by police, has guidelines and procedures that stun-gun advocates say have become less rigid but are still more stringent than those of other states.
As a result, the process of rolling the devices out to law enforcement agencies across the state is progressing, but slowly, officials say.
After a series of revisions since it first introduced a guideline for stun guns, the state has gradually eliminated several hurdles for police departments to issue the devices to officers, said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, the company that manufactures the stun guns used by agencies in New Jersey.
Today, 168 departments in New Jersey — a state with more than 500 municipalities and 21 counties — have issued Tasers to officers, he said.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-look-at-tasers-after-police-shootings-in-north-jersey-1.1355481
photo from MY FOXNY
By Josh Einiger
Friday, May 29, 2015 11:24PM
LYNDHURST (WABC) —
A police-involved shooting at the Lyndhurst Public Library in New Jersey left one person dead Friday.
The officers involved were transported to the hospital for trauma, but were not physically injured.
Officials say the building also houses the police department, fire department and courthouse, which is why the response was so quick.
“There was nothing else they could have done,” said Chief James O’Connor, Lyndhurst Police Department.
Late Friday night, the exhausted chief of the Lyndhurst Police detailed the life or death struggle between two of his officers and 36-year-old Kevin Allen, who police say would not go quietly, when they tried to arrest him on the third floor of the village library.
Police say Allen was rolling around on the floor with one officer, and when a second cop arrived to help, Allen reached into his pocket and took out a knife.
“He brandished the knife, the officers deployed pepper spray and batons, Mr. Allen still went after them aggressively and left them no choice but to deploy deadly force,” O’Connor said.
The gunfire broke the silence in a place of peace, as frantic parents rushed to the library to grab their kids. Fortunately, none of them was hurt.
Police Officer in Ferguson Is Said to Recount a Struggle
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MATT APUZZO and JULIE BOSMANOCT. 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — The police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., two months ago has told investigators that he was pinned in his vehicle and in fear for his life as he struggled over his gun with Mr. Brown, according to government officials briefed on the federal civil rights investigation into the matter.
The officer, Darren Wilson, has told the authorities that during the scuffle, Mr. Brown reached for the gun. It was fired twice in the car, according to forensics tests performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The first bullet struck Mr. Brown in the arm; the second bullet missed.
The forensics tests showed Mr. Brown’s blood on the gun, as well as on the interior door panel and on Officer Wilson’s uniform. Officer Wilson told the authorities that Mr. Brown had punched and scratched him repeatedly, leaving swelling on his face and cuts on his neck.
This is the first public account of Officer Wilson’s testimony to investigators, but it does not explain why, after he emerged from his vehicle, he fired at Mr. Brown multiple times. It contradicts some witness accounts, and it will not calm those who have been demanding to know why an unarmed man was shot a total of six times. Mr. Brown’s death continues to fuel anger and sometimes-violent protests.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/ferguson-case-officer-is-said-to-cite-struggle.html
