Bridgeton, NJ – A Millville, New Jersey man is dead and witnesses are denying what prosecutors are saying what happened the night of the shooting.
Police in Bridgeton stopped a car about 9:20 p.m. for unspecified reasons in a residential neighborhood, and multiple people said they witnessed two officers open fire on 36-year-old Jerame Reid.
Prosecutors said “during the course of the stop a handgun was revealed and later recovered,” but investigators have not specified whether the weapon was found before or after Reid – a passenger in the car – was shot.
And witnesses share a slightly different tale on what happened that night.
Zakeeda Hill, 28, and her 12-year-old cousin, Josh Scurry, said they watched the traffic stop and shooting from a home across the street.
Hill told The Daily Journal that the car’s occupants insisted to officers that they didn’t have anything and asked police why they had been pulled over.
Suddenly, they said, officers opened fire. Hill and Scurry each agreed they heard at least seven gunshots.
Tahli Dawkins, 34, told the Press of Atlantic City that he watched officers approach the car with their weapons drawn and yell “don’t effing move” at the occupants before suddenly opening fire.
Denzel Mosley, 17, witnessed the incident from the attic of his house, which overlooked the shooting scene.
He told KYW-TV that both of Reid’s hands were in “plain sight,” and the teen said he never saw a gun.
“They were telling him, ‘Get out the car,’” Mosley said. “(Officers were) like, ‘Stop!’ and they started shooting.”
The traffic stop was recorded on cell phone video by one witness and posted online, but it does not show the shooting directly.
Ben Mosely, a retired sheriff’s deputy, told WPVI-TV he watched the incident from his bedroom window.
He said Reid had gotten out of his car but then tried to get back into the vehicle when officers opened fire, but – based on his own police training — he does not believe the shooting was justified.
“I saw a disarmed man go down to the ground and get shot,” Mosley said. “That’s exactly what I saw.”
All the witnesses agreed that things escalated very quickly.
After Reid’s name was revealed, several media outlets conveniently cited Reid’s past as if any of that matters.
Reid’s wife admits her husband had a criminal record, but she said he walked out of jail a free man and didn’t deserve to die.
“I’m hurt, I’m disgusted,” said Lawanda Reid, the mother of Reid’s 3-month-old son. “My biggest fear has come true. I lost my best friend, my soul mate. The man that promised to love me indefinitely and beyond is gone.”
Reid served 15 years in prison for his conviction on attempted murder and aggravated assault.
The site also reported Reid filed a federal lawsuit three years ago claiming he was beaten by two Bridgeton jail officers in October 2009 in his cell while awaiting a transfer to another holding cell.
With very few details that have been revealed, the question remains whether the shooting was justified or not.
The officers involved, Officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley, have been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is being investigated.
The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Photo Source : NJ.com
