Trump Wants East Brunswick Cop Killer Returned From Cuba

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — President Donald Trump is calling on Cuba to return convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, who killed a State Trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick Township in 1973.

On Friday, Trump called on Cuban President Raul Castro to “return the fugitives from American justice, including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard.”

Trump said this as part of his announcement today that he is tearing up President Obama's opening of U.S.-Cuban relations.

On May 2, 1973, Trooper James Harper and Trooper Werner Foerster were patrolling the New Jersey Turnpike in the East Brunswick are when they stopped a car with three occupants. The driver and a female passenger, Chesimard, pointed semi-automatic pistols at the officers and opened fire, police said.

Foerster was struck twice in the chest, and Harper, who survived, was hit in the shoulder. Chesimard then took Foerster’s weapon, pointed it at him and shot him twice in the head. He died soon after, according to news accounts at the time.

Chesimard was charged with first-degree murder in Trooper Foerster's death, and was convicted for the crime. She was sentenced to a New Jersey prison, but broke out in 1979. She eventually fled to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum.

The reward for Chesimard's capture is $2 million. Also known as Assata Shakur, she was a member of the former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army while in the U.S.

Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, has been unwavering in his efforts to have Chesimard returned to New Jersey to serve out the remainder of her prison sentence. Col. Fuentes criticized Obama for opening up relations with Cuba if Chesimard remained on the loose there. Obama reportedly worked behind the scenes with the Cuban government to try and arrange Chesimard's extradition to the U.S. Trump spoke in more blunt terms Friday.

“To the Castro regime, I repeat, the harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end,” Trump said at an event in Miami, to the cheers of many Cuban Americans in the crowd, who cheered "Viva Trump!"