Police Cleared In Man's Death In Route 37 Gas Station Encounter In Toms River

TRENTON, NJ — A state grand jury voted not to file criminal charges against officers from Island Heights, Toms River, or the Ocean County Sheriff’s office in the death of a Manchester man following an encounter in 2024, the state Attorney General's Office said.

John Cassidy, 47, died April 19, 2024, after suffering a medical episode while police were arresting him at the Shell station at the corner of Route 37 and West End Avenue, authorities have said.

Cassidy was pulled over about 1 p.m. that day by an Island Heights police officer for having an expired registration on his car. Over the course of 25 minutes officers talked to Cassidy, trying to convince him to get out of the car as he had two arrest warrants, footage from bodyworn cameras of two officers showed.

After 25 minutes of refusing to get out of the car, Cassidy turned the engine back on. Police officers reached in and unlocked the car door, took the keys and pulled Cassidy, who refused to cooperate, from the car. As they dragged him out, Cassidy complained he could not breathe and yelled for an ambulance, which officers told him was already on the way.

As the officers handcuffed Cassidy he stopped speaking, and the officers immediately gave him oxygen in the video. He was treated by emergency medical technicians and taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he was pronounced dead at about 2:25 p.m., the attorney general's office said.

An autopsy was performed, and the medical examiner concluded the manner of death was natural and the cause of death was "hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and morbid obesity," the attorney general's office said.

Previous coverage:

• Man Who Died In Route 37 Police Encounter In Toms River Identified, Video Released
• Man's Death After Arrest At Route 37 Gas Station Under Investigation: NJ Attorney General