TRENTON – The Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation into the death of a man who died on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, after being taken into custody by police in Voorhees, N.J. The identity of the male civilian, age 37, is not being released at this time.
According to the preliminary investigation, the incident began at about 3 p.m. when an officer of the Voorhees Township Police Department observed the man drive at a high rate of speed through the parking lot of the Voorhees Town Center shopping mall and crash into a curb. The man exited the vehicle and ran away from the officer. After a brief foot pursuit, the officer apprehended the man and struggled to restrain and handcuff him. A backup officer arrived and assisted in securing the subject. A K-9 officer arrived on the scene, but the dog was not deployed.
After his arrest, the man said he did not feel good and requested help. He appeared to be under the influence of drugs and admitted to using methamphetamine. Officers asked for an expedited ambulance, which arrived within minutes. EMTs took the subject to Jefferson Stratford Hospital, where he passed away. A bag containing suspected methamphetamine was found in the subject’s vehicle. It is suspected that the man died of a drug overdose, but the investigation by the Attorney General’s Office is continuing. No further information is being released at this time.
The investigation is being conducted pursuant to a law enacted in January 2019, P.L.2019, c.1, which requires that the Attorney General’s Office conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody.
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