Advocates and the families of those killed say it hasn't lived up to its promise.
Myrlene Laurince will forever regret that she called the police for help.
The Attorney General’s Office insists the changes are doing exactly what supporters envisioned and have improved how New Jersey tackles often highly sensitive police shootings. The office says the system is thorough and objective and that backlogs are largely to blame on the coronavirus pandemic and its disruption of the courts.
Those shot by police were often armed, many with guns, but also knives, an ax, a sword, a scythe, a machete and scissors. Many were distraught and suffering from mental health crises that brought police to their doors. Others were wanted for violent crimes, drew firearms, or fired upon officers. Longtime activist Larry Hamm said he had hoped New Jersey’s new law would level the playing field. When Gov. Phil Murphy signed it on Jan. 30, 2019,But the push to change the system has failed to live up to its promise, Hamm said, even with the brief moment of national consensus that Floyd’s slaying appeared to bring.
Not every case has proven controversial. In 2019, police in Jersey City killed David Anderson and Francine Graham during a gun battle after they murdered a police officer, then three other people at a. With little surprise, state prosecutors announced in 2021 that the officers who ended the couple’s rampage were justified in killing them.
Her attorney, Daryl Washington, said police failed Johnson that day, and state authorities haven’t adequately explained why the grand jury declined criminal charges. The three officers involved in the shooting — Michael Arena, Pierluigi Mancuso, and Robert Scarborough — all of whom left the police force afterward, did not respond to requests for comment or could not be reached. Ventnor Police Chief Joseph Fussner declined to comment, citing the ongoing civil litigation.
“We are in the grand jury every week,” Platkin said. Once they have caught up, he said, the pace “will be much quicker.” “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Turner, D-Mercer, adding: “It is not fair not just to the victims, but also to the public.”The law was passed during the tenure of former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, a reform-minded prosecutor who embraced initiatives to make law enforcement more transparent and accountable. But Grewal, saying his office lacked the resources and local know-how to handle all police-involved deaths across the state quickly.
The chief “was just imploring me, ‘Is there anything that can be done to speed this up?’” said Gramiccioni, who is now in private practice. “So I would contact Trenton. And I’d say, ‘Hey, has there been any movement on this?’”Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association
“It is difficult to tell the family the officer is justified, but the officer is justified,” Colligan said.“All families of victims from around New Jersey say the same things: the Attorney General’s Office and prosecutors have not been keeping them up to date on developments,” said Zellie Thomas, a community activist in Paterson.
Twice, she said, they were made to sign non-disclosure agreements before authorities would give them basic information: once when they were allowed to view unredacted video of the shooting, and once when they were provided a copy of her brother’s autopsy report.the Attorney General’s Office produced, which contains a single paragraph describing the events of that day. She said she filed public records requests seeking more, which state prosecutors have denied.
New York releases detailed reports at the end of investigations involving any unarmed civilian killed by police. Connecticut publishes reports that include a timeline of the incidents, a summary of witness statements and a legal analysis of whether the officers were justified. Abdul Malik Muhammad, the stepfather of Carl Dorsey III, speaks Jan. 1, 2023, during a protest in downtown Newark on the second anniversary of Dorsey's death. Dorsey was shot by a Newark police officer minutes into New Year's Day 2021.
“It hasn’t seemed to make a difference in this case,” Muhammad said. “It still seems like they are part of the same group and the same situation, and they ain’t trying to hold each other accountable too hard on it.” Jeffrey Wells, president of Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police union, welcomed the decision clearing Simpkins, saying he is a respected officer who “acted heroically” while responding to a gunfight.
Sonia Spina, a spokeswoman for Asbury Park, said the city had no comment. DeShader and Mayor John Moor did not return phone calls. Thelonious McKnight's siblings, Janet Rodriguez , Justin Colon and Aquil Colon, pose with a cardboard cutout of him on Jan. 12, 2023. They are standing near where Paterson police fatally shot McKnight on Dec. 29, 2021.Both in New Jersey and nationally, on-duty killings by police rarely result in criminal prosecutions – let alone convictions from juries reluctant to second-guess officers’ split-second decisions in often volatile situations.
Despite the rarity, law enforcement officials and police union leaders push back on claims that officers are under-prosecuted, saying each case must be evaluated on its own merits recognizing the dangerous situations cops face. Former Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said police-involved shootings are also traumatic for the officers involved. "I’ve seen officers cry after a police shooting," he said. He is pictured here at a 2020 ceremony.
“I’ve got lung problems,” the 64-year-old grandfather told the Trenton police officers hovering over him. “I can’t breathe.” In a written statement, Platkin accused Piotrowski of “mishandling a situation that could have concluded so much differently.” Alterman, who frequently represents police officers accused of misconduct, criticized the new law as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the social justice protests that were cropping up around the country at the time. Handing the investigations to the Attorney General’s Office merely created “a long, drawn-out process,” he said.
“From the first video, I didn’t have any control of myself,” Laurince remembered, though she managed to continue watching. “After the third or fourth video, when I saw how they killed my child, I stood up and started screaming.”Bernard Placide Jr., 22, was shot and killed by police in Englewood on Sept. 3, 2022. His mother, Myrlene Laurince, said he played football in high school, loved to cook and "had big dreams.
With guns drawn, police reached Placide’s half-open door at 8:36 a.m. A minute later, he was dying from a gunshot wound. Eric Kleiner, the family’s attorney, insists police botched their response. Knowing the home was secure, Kleiner said, they should have de-escalated the situation and tried to talk to Placide instead of barging into his room and Tasering and shooting him.
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