Bodycam Video Of Ventnor Police Shooting Of Amir Johnson

The Attorney General’s Office released video recordings from officer body-worn cameras related to the shooting on Aug. 6, 2020 in Ventnor, N.J., in which police officers fatally shot Amir Johnson, 30, of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The shooting remains under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. However, the video recordings are being released pursuant to Attorney General Directive 2019-4, the “Independent Prosecutor Directive,” which governs use-of-force investigations in New Jersey and requires that such records, if requested, be released to the public once the initial phase of the investigation is substantially complete. Investigators met with relatives of Mr. Johnson to review the 911 audio recording and the video recordings from the body-worn cameras worn by three police officers.

According to the preliminary investigation, at approximately 4:16 p.m., Ventnor and Atlantic City Police Department officers responded to a 911 call concerning a man behaving erratically in the vicinity of Wellington Avenue and West End Avenue. When the responding officers encountered the man, later identified as Amir Johnson, he was walking in and out of a marshy area along the roadway, while holding a broken glass bottle in his hand. The officers attempted to engage Mr. Johnson and offer him assistance, but he refused to comply with their commands, including repeated requests for him to drop the bottle. Instead, he continued to walk back and forth on the roadway, where officers had stopped traffic for safety reasons.

At approximately 4:30 p.m., Mr. Johnson advanced on officers with the broken bottle in his hand and multiple officers fired their weapons, fatally wounding him. He was rushed by ambulance to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Atlantic City Campus, where he was pronounced deceased at approximately 6:00 p.m. The Attorney General’s Office previously released the identity of the police officers who fired at Mr. Johnson. They are Officers Michael Arena, Pierluigi Mancuso, and Robert Scarborough of the Ventnor Police Department. The investigation is being conducted pursuant to a state 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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