Retired N.J. Cop Can’t Carry Gun To ‘Protect Family,’ Courts Cite Road Rage

A retired New Jersey police officer has struck out in his latest attempt to get a handgun permit “to provide security for his family” after authorities cited several allegedly violent road rage incidents as reason to shoot down his application.

On Wednesday, a New Jersey Appellate Court upheld an earlier trial court decision to deny ex-Jersey City Police Officer Keith Russell’s application to carry a handgun.

According to court records, Russell applied to carry a firearm soon after retiring from the force in 2011. However, in October of 2012, the NJ State Police told Russell that his application was denied because the JCPD refused to endorse it due to his involvement in three, allegedly violent road rage incidents in West Orange, East Whippany and Newark.

Russell appealed the decision to the Law Division and a trial court conducted a hearing in August of 2013, ruling that granting Russell the permit would not be “in the interests of the public health, safety or welfare.”

According to court records, when asked why he needed a gun during the trial, Russell testified that he wanted to start a business involving armored cars. While he stated that the business wouldn’t be providing armed escort, Russell argued that he needed to carry a weapon to “provide security for his family.”

Russell subsequently appealed the trial court’s ruling and the Appellate Court began hearing arguments on the case in September.

See the full written court opinion here.

“PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN GAS STATION LINES”

In its written opinion, the Appellate Court cited three alleged cases of violent road rage as reasons to deny Russell’s application.

During a court hearing in August of 2013, a lieutenant in the JCPD's Internal Affair's Unit testified that the first incident took place in April of 2010, when Russell reportedly cut off a Prius carrying an assistant attorney general of New York and her husband on Route 280 in Newark.

According to court records, the attorney general and her husband told officers that they attempted to get away from Russell but he “followed them” off the highway and positioned his truck so that they were forced to stop on a side street.

A cursing and “out of control” Russell then approached their vehicle and slammed his badge on the car’s window, the pair later told authorities.

When officers from the Essex County College Police Department arrived on the scene, Russell allegedly had a “confrontational exchange” with one of the officers, court records state.

The JCPD lieutenant testified that a second road rage incident took place in May of 2010 when Russell reportedly got into an argument with a local landscaping contractor about unfinished work on a project the former officer had hired him for.

According to court records, the contractor told authorities that after confronting him at a job site in West Orange, Russell followed him in his car after he drove away and tried to “run him off the road,” at one point slamming on his brakes and driving in reverse in an effort to keep up.

According to court records, the third incident took place in September of 2010, when Russell allegedly got into an argument with a woman at an East Whippany gas station.

The woman told police that she saw Russell cut off several vehicles waiting in line for their turn at the pumps. When she confronted Russell, he allegedly cursed at her and told her that he was buying diesel fuel. After a short argument, the woman began to walk back to her car but Russell allegedly followed her and waved a pocket knife at her and threatened to slash her tires.

According to court records, Russell admitted that he told the woman that “people have been killed in gas station lines.”

Authorities later charged Russell with possession of a weapon and disorderly conduct in connection with the East Whippany incident. He eventually pled guilty to loitering and paid a fine, court records show.

The JCPD ended up issuing 24 disciplinary charges to Russell in connection with the three incidents, including violating departmental rules, failure to obey the law and conduct unbecoming a public employee, the lieutenant testified.

He added that Russell was told that he would be terminated, but the JCPD and Russell reached a settlement, Russell retired and the charges were withdrawn.

PROTECTING HIS FAMILY

In his argument to the trial court, Russell stated that he wanted to start a business that would provide armored vehicles to people who "fly in with their security teams.”

The former police officer argued that while he had no plans provide armed escorts for the vehicles, he needed to carry a weapon because he “didn’t want somebody using [his] family as leverage to take a security vehicle,” court records state.

Russell and his attorneys posited that the trial court erred by not imposing a "justifiable need" standard for his application, an argument that the Appellate Court judges rejected.

“The court's observations regarding Russell's reasons for seeking authorization to carry a handgun were essentially an assessment of his credibility and they did not represent the imposition of a justifiable need standard for the application,” the panel wrote in its decision.

During his court hearing, Russell acknowledged that the three incidents took place, but offered testimony about the circumstances of each event.

Russell stated that prior to the Newark incident on Route 280, the Prius was impeding the flow of traffic, and the driver of the car "opened his sunroof and was throwing change or whatever out of his car." Russell claimed that one of the objects hit and damaged the hood of his truck, and that the Prius actually followed his vehicle off the highway, not the other way around.

The former JCPD officer said that the West Orange incident was precipitated when the contractor allegedly failed to finish a $30,000 landscaping job, and that he later learned that the contractor had convictions for fraud and owed almost $100,000 in restitution in Somerset County. Russell testified that after his wife contacted the worker’s parole officer, the contractor “threatened” him and his wife.

When asked about the East Whippany gas station incident, Russell acknowledged that he did pass several vehicles waiting on the line to purchase diesel gas. However, he claimed that the woman approached him and called him a “fat f---” and that he should “go eat a few more donuts,” and also threatened to punch him, court records state.

Russell testified that he could have remained in his truck and kept quiet, but that he attempted to “educate [the woman] for her own safety” because she was acting so irrationally.

Patch reached out to Needleman & Pisano, Russell’s listed attorneys in the court decision, seeking comment for this story but received no reply.

• See related article: N.J. Senators Join Gun Violence Filibuster
• See related article: Need A Gun? Your N.J. Next-Door-Neighbor Could Easily Sell You A Semi-Automatic

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