“When I first came on … this would have been a deadly (police) shooting, said Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez. This wouldn t have been resolved the way it was, the way these officers handled themselves.”
Instead, the video compiled by the police department from body-cam footage shows officers taking multiple measures to de-escalate the situation and avoid a lethal outcome.
Among other tactics, the sergeant does not immediately confront the suspect near Pyne Poynt Park in North Camden, noted Kevin Lutz, a captain who oversees training for the county department.
He asserted it would have been “a legally justified deadly force encounter” if the officer had confronted the man, ordered him to drop the knife, and then shot him if he did not comply.
New Year s Day should have been the start of NJ legal weed Instead, it s stuck in limbo mcall.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mcall.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
But don t light up just yet.
Although New Jersey voters in November chose to legalize marijuana, back-and-forth negotiations continue over penalties for underage marijuana use or possession. That s left legal weed in limbo despite 2.7 million New Jerseyans giving their OK, in a ballot measure that should have taken effect Jan. 1.
Nearly two months of trying hasn t gotten enabling legislation adopted. There are no implementing laws and there are no regulations by the new commission that s being created, said Robert Williams, a retired constitutional law professor at Rutgers Law School. It s an odd situation, actually, that the people can vote for something and literally the Legislature can block it by doing nothing.
Credit: (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
File photo
New Jersey’s path to legalizing recreational use of marijuana has been tortured and often confusing, so maybe it’s fitting that even after voters overwhelmingly approved the move on Jan. 1, it’s going to take a bit longer to make it happen.
In the meantime, let the public beware: Possessing marijuana will not be legal come Friday. In fact, it will still be a crime until elected officials can once again hammer out some last-minute issues.
Gov. Phil Murphy, it turns out, is refusing to sign two landmark bills passed on Dec. 17 one to legalize adult-use marijuana, the other to decriminalize up to 6 ounces of possession. The governor’s office says they need to correct a “drafting error” before the measures can become law.