Michael Schmidt:Grand jury decides against charges in police shooting of NJ backhoe driver who damaged homes, cars

2025-05-01 03:49:25source:Quaxs Trading Centercategory:Invest

VINELAND,Michael Schmidt N.J. (AP) — Authorities say a grand jury has declined to file charges against police officers in the shooting death of a backhoe driver who damaged vehicles and homes at a mobile home park in New Jersey in 2021.

The state attorney general’s office said this week that grand jurors were presented with evidence that included body-worn camera footage and video surveillance in the death of 20-year-old Joshua Gonzalez of Millville. They also heard interviews with the officers involved before deciding earlier this month against bringing charges in the case.

Vineland officers were dispatched to Penn Lincoln Mobile Home Park in December 2021 after a 911 caller reported someone “operating a construction backhoe in an erratic manner,” officials said. Several officers encountered Gonzalez operating the backhoe around 5 a.m. and tried to stop him for about half an hour, without success.

During that time, the driver “caused extensive damage to several residences and vehicles, including two police cars, an ambulance, and an occupied civilian vehicle,” the attorney general’s office said. The office said “Gonzalez flipped over police vehicles with the backhoe and attempted to strike police vehicles that were pursuing him.”

An officer fired his service weapon, and officers and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid before Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene less than 20 minutes later. Three Vineland officers were treated for minor injuries.

More:Invest

Recommend

Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reported sexual assaults at the U.S. military service academies dropped in 2024 fo

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran Wax Figures Revealed and Fans Weren't Ready For It

These might not be the faces Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran see in the mirror looking back at them.The

Agents seize nearly 3,000 pounds of meth hidden in celery at Georgia farmers market

Agents with the Atlanta Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 2,500 pounds of