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UPDATE: NJ Attorney General Redirects Elizabeth Police Involved Shooting from Union to Essex Prosecutor Due to Possible Conflict of Interest

Union County

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II, announced today that the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office (ECPO) is investigating an officer-involved shooting that took place earlier Saturday morning in the vicinity of Court and 3rd Streets in Elizabeth.

According to the preliminary investigation released by the Essex County Prosecutor's Ofice, at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, the Elizabeth Police Department (EPD) received a report of a domestic violence incident.

Police say responding EPD officers encountered Michael Bates (37-years-old, Orange, NJ) in the area of Court and 3rd Streets.

Elizabeth Police alleged that Bates approached the two responding officers and threatened to harm them.

During this time the officers discharged their service weapons, striking Bates once police said

EMS transported Bates to University Hospital in Newark for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Police ultimately charged Bates with third-degree making terroristic threats and fourth-degree creating a false public alarm, but officials would not say if Bates actually possessed a weapon. Police also did not say who the handcuffed suspect was observed on photo images at the scene being placed in a police car.

In New Jersey, all investigations of deadly police force incidents are governed by the Attorney General’s Independent Prosecutor Directive, issued in 2006 and strengthened in 2015, which establishes strict procedures for conducting such investigations.

Officials say it requires the Attorney General to review all deadly force investigations, and in some cases conduct them as well.

In accordance with the Independent Prosecutor Directive, the Attorney General reassigned the investigation related to Bates and to the EPD officers’ use of force from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office (UCPO), which was the initial responding agency, to the ECPO to avoid a possible conflict of interest, or appearance of one, as one of the responding EPD officers has a professional relationship with the UCPO.

The Independent Prosecutor Directive further provides that unless the undisputed facts indicate the use of force was justified under the law, the circumstances of the incident must ultimately be presented to a grand jury, composed of 23 civilians, for its independent review.

For additional information regarding the Attorney General’s Independent Prosecutor Directive and how officer-involved shootings are investigated in New Jersey, please visit: https://www.nj.gov/oag/independent-prosecutor/

The aforementioned criminal charges are mere accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

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