No Charges For Belleville Cop Who Shot Stick-Wielding Man: Prosecutor

BELLEVILLE, NJ — An Essex County grand jury has declined to proceed with any criminal charges against a Belleville police officer who shot a 30-year-old local man during an encounter at a Joralemon Street home last December.

The grand jury voted “no cause of action” on April 10 regarding the Dec. 21, 2016 police shooting of Cesar Delgado of Belleville, which began when officers responded to his Joralemon Street residence on a report of a domestic dispute.

• See related article: Belleville Police Shooting: Man Charged With Assault, Allegedly Had Knife

Delgado was indicted on May 2 on charges of aggravated assault and multiple weapons offenses. His next court date is set for July 21, and no trial date has been set as of Wednesday, according to a statement from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to prosecutors, the incident began around 5:30 p.m. when a Belleville police officer and his partner arrived at the home to find an “agitated” Delgado. Police say Delgado then ran inside the house and grabbed a long stick, while a family member ran after him and yelled several times for Delgado to put the weapon down.

The officers followed the suspect as he grabbed the stick and gave multiple warnings to drop the weapon. But Delgado allegedly ignored all commands and charged at the officers while “violently swinging” the weapon, prosecutors stated.

At that point, one officer fired his service weapon, missing Delgado, who then allegedly went around a dividing wall and tried to pull a knife from his waistband while continuing to charge at the officers with the stick in his hand, prosecutors said.

When Delgado allegedly ignored additional commands to drop the stick, the officer who first fired discharged his weapon two more times, hitting Delgado once in the abdomen, prosecutors stated.

Emergency medical responders arrived at the home shortly afterwards and transported Delgado to a nearby hospital for treatment, prosecutors stated.

Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Professional Standards Bureau responded to the scene and investigated the shooting, recovering large portions of the stick that had broken into shards, a knife and ballistic evidence.

Detectives also canvassed for witnesses, took photographs of the scene and took video statements from Delgado’s family members, prosecutors said.

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