The Attorney General’s Office today released a recording from a private security camera that captured video footage of a fatal encounter involving a police vehicle and a bicyclist that occurred on June 18, in Atlantic City.
The bicyclist, Everett Stern, 63, of Atlantic City, was critically injured and died in the hospital one week later.
The fatal police encounter remains under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA).
The video is being released pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General in 2019 that are designed to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, investigators met today with the decedent’s family and attorney to review the video recording. According to the preliminary investigation, a uniformed officer of the Atlantic City Police Department, Officer Ahmed Waqar, was responding to a routine call for service in a marked patrol vehicle, with no lights or siren activated, when the accident occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of Arkansas and Arctic avenues.
According to the investigation, Officer Waqar was traveling northbound on Arkansas Avenue, and Mr. Stern was traveling eastbound on Arctic Avenue when his bicycle collided with the driver side of the police vehicle.
The Investigation found that the officer immediately called for emergency medical personnel and rendered aid to Mr. Stern. Mr. Stern was taken by ambulance to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, where he died on June 25.
The video recording is posted online.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
This investigation is being conducted pursuant to a state law enacted in January 2019, which requires that the Attorney General’s Office conduct all 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.
Separately, the Independent Prosecutor Directive, which was issued in December 2019, outlines a 10-step process for conducting these investigations. The Directive establishes clear procedures governing such investigations to ensure that they are conducted in a full, impartial and transparent manner.
Under both state law and the Directive, when the entire investigation is complete, the case will be presented to a grand jury, typically consisting of 16 to 23 citizens, to make the ultimate decision regarding whether criminal charges will be filed.