Stop Killing Us! Maurice Gordon Shot Six Times By New Jersey State Trooper

New footage has been released in the case of Maurice Gordon, [fix the link to include the ‘t’] the 28-year-old unarmed Black man who was killed by a white state trooper last month.

Sgt. Randall Wetzel pulled Gordon over on May 23 for allegedly speeding. According to the attorney general’s office, who is now leading the investigation on the shooting, Gordon’s car became disabled on the left shoulder of the Garden State Parkway in Bass River, N.J.

As he waited for a tow truck to arrive, Wetzel instructed Gordon to wait inside of his police cruiser to stay out of the way of traffic.

Dash-cam footage showed the stop appeared routine. You can hear Wetzel say, “I can give you a ride wherever you’re trying to go.” However, after about 20 minutes, Gordon unfastens his seat belt and appears to get out of the car before we hear Wetzel yell, “get in the car” as a physical altercation erupts outside of the cruiser.

 

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@NYPost – “A New Jersey state trooper fatally shot a New York man as they struggled during a traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway, newly released video shows. The footage, released Monday by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, is among 12 audio and video recordings from a May 23 traffic stop showing Maurice Gordon, 28, struggling with state police Sgt. Randall Wetzel after he was pulled over in Bass River. Wetzel had pulled over Gordon, of Poughkeepsie, for allegedly driving 110 mph. Wetzel then told Gordon to move his car, but Gordon’s vehicle wouldn’t start, video shows. As they waited for a tow truck, Wetzel invited Gordon to sit in the back of his patrol car, which he did. Some 21 minutes later, Gordon is seen unbuckling his seatbelt and exiting the vehicle as Wetzel attempts to hand him a face mask, setting off a confrontation. Wetzel, who is off-camera at the time, can be heard ordering Gordon to get back into the cruiser as the man appears to try to get into the driver’s side of the police vehicle, video shows. A struggle on the left shoulder of the Parkway between the pair ensued, with Wetzel using pepper spray on Gordon before firing six times, killing him. “We got into a fight on the side of the road,” Wetzel can be heard telling another official at the scene. “He tried running into my car. I got him out, sprayed him. We got in a fight again. He ran away from me, tried to hop in my trooper car, grab my gun.” Gordon was pronounced dead by a paramedic roughly an hour after the stop, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said. A medical examiner has not yet completed Gordon’s autopsy, which will be shared with his family once completed, Grewal said. The shooting remains under investigation and will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether charges should be filed. Monday’s release by Grewal’s office came after an attorney for Gordon — a chemistry student at New York’s Dutchess Community College — said key details in the police-involved shooting were difficult to obtain. Gordon’s mother and sister, meanwhile, said they were “outraged” that they were unable to get the audio and video clips prior to them being released.”

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The attorney general’s office claims Gordon tried to enter the driver’s seat of Wetzel’s patrol car twice.

At the first encounter, Gordon is pepper-sprayed, but during the second time, Wetzel pulls him out of the driver’s seat and shot him six times.

According to the Gordon family’s attorney, William O. Wagstaff III, the audio and video recordings weren’t shared with them before their public release. Wagstaff says that the family received texts from friends and family members about the recordings as they prepared funeral arrangements on Monday.

“I just can’t imagine the insensitivity,” he says, “they sat on this for two weeks. In the absence of media and the press putting pressure on the state of New Jersey to do the right thing, which is to allow the family to learn the circumstances of Mr. Gordon’s death, they didn’t even give the family a day.”

I don’t understand what this sentence is trying to say and I don’t know where the quote starts. The top half is very wordy and confusing…can you clean it up?

At a news briefing on Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced that a grand jury will review the case to consider possible charges.

He says, “police have a responsibility to protect the people they serve, and that demands a high level of accountability when things go wrong.”

New Jersey State Police confirmed on Monday that Wetzel remains on administrative leave with pay.