Body Cam Video Released In Paterson Police Shooting Of Najee Seabrooks

PATERSON, NJ — Officials released body camera footage of the shooting death of Najee Seabrooks, whom Paterson police shot and killed after he barricaded himself in the bathroom during a mental health crisis.

Activists who worked with Seabrooks to connect with gun violence victims in Paterson, and others pushing for police reform amid another Black men’s killing by officers, had called for footage to be released swiftly.

Seabrooks, who was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting in 2021, worked with the Paterson Healing Collective as an violence intervention activist. His coworkers "begged police to intervene," according to a GoFundMe for Seabrooks' family that has raised more than $44,000 as of March 17.

Two officers from Paterson’s Crisis Response Team fired at the 31-year-old as he exited the bathroom with a knife that he had been using to harm himself March 3, according to officials and camera footage from the apartment.

Body camera footage shows Seabrooks had told police he would harm himself and also them, and appeared unconvinced that Paterson officers who responded were actually police. But he also agreed several times to come with police and kept asking for help, wanting them to connect him with his mother right before two officers shot him.

“People are trying to kill me, I need an escort right now,” he told officers who arrived that Friday morning.

Previous coverage —

• 2 Officers Who Shot, Killed NJ Man In Distress Identified: AG
• Police Reform Demanded After NJ Violence Intervention Activist Killed
• Man Fatally Shot By Paterson Police Identified As Violence Intervention Activist Najee Seabrooks (from CBS New York City, news partner)

On Thursday, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s office released redacted audio from 911 calls, and redacted body camera footage from several of the officers who were speaking with Seabrooks while he was in the bathroom for hours, before firing at him. Platkin's office met with Seabrooks' family, as well, he said.

Editor's note: While some parts of the videos are redacted, they may still be upsetting to viewers as they depict a person in crisis, and the shooting resulting in his death. Patch is in the process of reviewing the videos fully; camera footage from the two officers who fired shots did not appear to be available in the moments around Seabrooks’ death.

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice said the hours of footage are "heartbreaking video of a distressed Black man in the middle of a mental health crisis."

"This was a man who was desperately seeking help - help that could not be provided while a gun was pointed at his face," the institute said in a statement Thursday. "In his moment of greatest need, Najee should have been met by peaceful, trained intervenors - not police officers with guns raised."

The AG’s office also released its narrative of the incident, saying the 31-year-old told police he had two knives and a gun several times, threw items at police, and started a fire in the bathroom. He was also cutting himself with the knives, police said on video, as they were asking him to stop.

Seabrooks opened the bathroom door periodically to speak with officers, and a family member arrived to persuade him to come out, said officials. Officers shot sponge-tipped projectiles at him about 15 times, Platkin said, which hit him but were not effective.

Body camera footage shows Seabrooks’ family members let officers into the apartment just before 8 a.m. on March 3, and begin speaking to him through the bathroom door.

“People are trying to kill me, I need an escort right now,” he tells them, and expresses disbelief when the officers tell them they are Paterson police. He asks for a sergeant, and when police ask how he is going to hurt himself, he tells them he has a “pocket rocket” gun and knives.

His mother and other family members told police he was acting abnormally, body camera footage shows, and try to talk to him through the door. Seabrooks made 911 calls to other agencies, as well, claiming Paterson officers were holding him hostage. He also asked Paterson dispatchers to send more officers.

Crisis negotiators and the Emergency Response Team arrived throughout the morning, as well as EMS from the Paterson Fire Department. Seabrooks had been contacting friends and asking them to come, but Platkin's office and police officers said they could not let his work mentor in because Seabrooks had said he had knives and a gun.

“During this time, Mr. Seabrooks vacillated from expressing a willingness to cooperate with the police and accept the help being offered, to saying that he was going to die in the bathroom and take one of the officers with him,” Platkin’s office said.

Officers heard a crash at 10:15 a.m. and water "began flooding the apartment," Platkin said. Officers tried to break into the bathroom when they had not heard from Seabrooks, but it was barricaded, Platkin added.

"He's starting a fire," one officer says as the others ask Seabrooks why he is burning something in the bathroom.

"What I really need is help," Seabrooks says later in the video, after the officers get the door open. "You're trying to kill me."

Seabrooks also tells officers he was "prepared for a shootout" in the body camera footage from police. He screams several times and tells officers to call 911.

Footage from the moments before the officers fired shows them speaking to him while the door is open, asking him to stop putting the knives to his skin and set them down. The sound of water is audible through parts of the video, as is a smoke alarm going off for several minutes.

Platkin’s office said Seabrooks came out of the bathroom at 12:35 p.m. with a knife in his hand, and charged at officers. Officers Anzore Tsay and Jose Hernandez fired their weapons, hitting him, Platkin said.

The officers, carrying tactical shields, were cajoling Seabrooks to come out and speak to someone.

"Nobody's going to let you die," an officer said. "Come on Naj, put the knives on the floor."

After he asks to talk to his mother, they tell him they will take him to her, body camera footage shows.

"Come on man, let's take you to your mom, let her talk to you," one says. "I'm sure she don't want to see you like this."

One officer's body camera captures Seabrooks coming quickly out of the bathroom with a knife in his hand. One yells "drop it" before officers discharge their weapons.

After the footage was released, the NJ Institute for Social Justice and ACLU of New Jersey continued calls for reform in how police respond to people in crisis.

"How many times do we have to mourn the loss of Black lives before we finally, finally learn the lesson that the answer to someone in a mental health crisis is not an armed intervention?" the NJ Institute for Social Justice said in a statement. "It is compassionate, trained help from trustworthy people."

The ACLU-NJ said the videos reinforced the reality that "deep investment in non-law enforcement first responses to mental health calls is an urgent and life-saving need."

“We continue to demand transformation of policing wholesale," executive director Amol Sinha said in a statement. "It bears repeating – our legislature must take steps to allow for civilian complaint review boards with subpoena power, facilitate public disclosure of all police disciplinary history, and end qualified immunity. And we must examine whether armed police officers must be the only response to everything, when successful alternative solutions exist."