NJ Troopers Fatally Shoot Man Who Opened Fire On Dog

KNOWLTON, NJ — New Jersey State Troopers shot and killed a man Sunday after he opened fire on a dog in the car with him, according to authorities.

On Sunday at about 1:30 a.m., a pair of troopers responded to a one-car accident on Starlite Hill Road in Knowlton, where they found car which had crashed into a ditch with a man and a dog inside, police said.

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As troopers attempted to communicate with the accident victim he fired a weapon, striking the dog, and prompting the troopers to fire into the vehicle striking the driver, police said.

The man was taken to the nearby Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania, where he died about an hour later.

As part of a directive created by Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in December 2019, the Attorney General’s Office becomes an independent prosecutor in a police-related shooting with a civilian, while a “municipal, county state or other law enforcement officer” is on duty or off.

The Attorney General’s Office investigates police shootings if:

• a person died by use of force from an officer or was seriously injured through that use of force;
• a police officer fired their weapon, even if there was no injury to the person;
• a civilian died “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer;” or
• if a civilian death happened while the person was in police custody.

"The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time," the Attorney General's Office reported.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.