Investigation Underway in NJ Park Police Shooting of Unarmed Native American Man

 

It took 1 Hour for Medical Help to Arrive Even though Ambulance was only 1 mile away

Bergen County's prosecutor John Molinelli says New Jersey's state park police made significant errors in judgment last weekend in an altercation with members of the Ramapo Indian tribe. One tribe member was seriously wounded and a second is in police custody. Molinelli said that his investigation indicates three New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection police officers were not in their jurisdiction on Saturday when they confronted a group of Ramapough tribe members riding ATVs in a remote part of the Ramapo Mountains. 43 year old Emil Mann was shot twice by one of the DEP officers. He was at Hackensack University Medical Center until he died yesterday, shortly after noon. The incident has lead to allegations of wrongdoing from all sides. Tribe members said they considered Mr. Mann's shooting the latest assault upon their community, which has been engaged in a prolonged battle with Ford Motor Company over the dumping of paint sludge in the area. Ford's Mahwah plant closed in 1980, and the area was declared clean in 1994, but it has required three or four additional cleanups. Residents have attributed numerous health problems to the pollution. The Ramapough tribe claims the shooting was racially motivated. Agnes Mann, a distant cousin of Emil Mann, said she was told that he was holding his arms up and asking, "What did I do?" when he was shot. "They had no business shooting anybody, no reason for doing that," she said.They also say the police response was extreme and the emergency response slow. Police and hospital officials released 911 transcripts and records yesterday showing a timeline of the emergency response. Records show that one hour and one minute passed between the first 911 call, at 4:34 p.m. The transcripts also show that an ambulance was staged more than a mile from the scene of the shooting.  According to members of the tribe who were at the scene, Park Police officers stood about as Mann lay bleeding.[more] and [more]

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