Grieving Family Of Newton Man Shot By Police Writes To Mayor For Reaction To His Death

NEWTON, NJ — A grieving family continues to seek answers about the death of their loved one, a man who was killed in front of his home during a shooting incident with two Newton Police officers on July 4.

Valerie Cobbertt, sister of the man who died - Gulia Dale III, a retired U.S. Army Major - wrote a letter to Newton Mayor Matthew Dickson on Sept. 13, which addressed her concerns that her brother was not treated fairly as a black man, in comparison to another gun-related case earlier in the year involving a white man.

That man, Edwin Greene, 80, a retired police officer and honorably-discharged Army veteran himself, fired his gun at police last Jan. 25 according to the New Jersey Herald. In what was suspected a “suicide by cop” case, police reportedly tried to diffuse the situation with Greene before he discharged his weapon at an unidentified Newton police officer, then got into his car.

Greene, who reportedly had strokes in both 2015 and 2020, was later taken into custody and charged with attempted murder, the Herald reported.

In her letter, Cobbertt expressed to Dickson her concerns that her brother - who served honorably for 30 years including in Desert Storm, working at both the Pentagon and Picatinny Arsenal and struggled with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - was not afforded the same treatment as Greene had been.

“I can’t help to think that my brother was treated differently because he was black,” Cobbertt wrote to Dickson in the letter, which was forwarded to Patch by Rick Robinson, who is representing the family; and is the chairman of the NJSC NAACP and co-chair of the Newark NJ NAACP Criminal Justice Committees.

“When you compare both incidents,” Cobbertt continued in her letter, “it is pretty clear that Mr. Greene was afforded everything, which kept him alive and my brother was not given anything, which resulted in the Newton NJ Police Officers taking his life.”

Cobbertt said her family’s concerns that Dale was killed because of racism, was the push to file complaints through the NAACP, including an Internal Affairs complaint with the Newton Police Department.

With Dale, 61, having been killed during the incident with police officers, it automatically opened up an investigation with New Jersey's Attorney General’s Office, that office releasing not only the body and dash camera videos on Aug. 2, but Dale’s identity and the names of the two officers who fired their guns, Steven Kneidl and Garrett Armstrong.

In her letter to Dickson, Cobbertt said in Greene’s case, “the Town of Newton was ordered to be shut down and Mr. Greene was afforded area resources to de-escalate his matter after he shot at the police twice.”

After officers fired their weapons in Dale's case, a firearm was located near Dale, which Kneidl’s and Armstrong’s lawyers told the New Jersey Herald, Dale had been holding during the encounter with police at his home on Clive Place that night.

Armstrong’s lawyer, Charles Sciarra, reported to the Herald that police acted within guidelines, stating that Dale’s gun was visible and “he brandished it at a law enforcement officer,” Kneidl’s attorney Anthony Iacullo in agreement that the officers followed the state’s “use-of-force” directives.

“Please tell me that you and your office see a huge problem here, pertaining to law enforcement engagement for white individuals as opposed to black individuals,” Cobbertt also wrote in her letter to Dickson. “Please tell us that you and your office plan to rectify these concerns, because all red-blooded, hard-working, tax-paying individuals deserve to be treated with fairness.”

Cobbertt was additionally upset that Dickson, as mayor, had never contacted Dale’s family after his death.

“Please understand, he [Dale] served this country for nearly 30 years in the Armed Forces and my family deserves more from your office than sheer silence,” Cobbertt wrote.

Dickson did not respond to Patch’s email request for comment about the letter and inquiry if his office had responded to it, nor have representatives for the family indicated if Dickson has responded yet to the letter.

On Sept. 19 at 3:30 p.m., the H3AL Coalition is hosting a vigil in Dale’s memory on the Newton Green, where music, speakers, poetry reading and creation of a flower mandala and candle-lighting event are planned. More information about the vigil is available here.

Read more here in the New Jersey Herald and here

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