The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has identified John Cassidy, 47, of Manchester, as the man who died during a police encounter on April 19 at a gas station on Route 37 in Toms River. The incident occurred at the Shell station at Route 37 and West End Avenue, where Cassidy suffered a medical episode while being arrested. The case remains under investigation.
Body camera footage released by the Attorney General’s Office captures the tense 30-minute interaction between Cassidy and the officers. Cassidy was initially pulled over by Island Heights Police Officer Peter Muscarella around 1 p.m. for expired vehicle registration. Muscarella informed Cassidy of two outstanding warrants for his arrest, one reportedly involving a protective order and concerns about “violent tendencies.”
Cassidy repeatedly denied the warrants, insisting, “Give me two tickets and I can leave right now.” Over the course of the interaction, Cassidy refused to exit his vehicle, citing panic and asthma attacks, and expressed distress. Muscarella attempted to de-escalate the situation, but Cassidy became increasingly agitated, revving his engine and blasting his car radio.
Additional officers from Island Heights, Toms River, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist. After Cassidy continued to refuse compliance, officers unlocked his car, removed the keys, and forcibly extracted him from the vehicle. Cassidy resisted and complained he could not breathe, repeatedly calling for an ambulance. As officers secured handcuffs, Cassidy became unresponsive. They immediately administered oxygen until emergency medical personnel arrived.
Cassidy was transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he was pronounced dead at 2:25 p.m.
The Attorney General’s Office shared the body camera footage with Cassidy’s family before its public release. Under New Jersey law, all deaths involving police encounters must be presented to a grand jury to determine if charges against the officers are warranted.
The video below may be disturbing to some. Watch at your own discretion.
Why would you share this video? Poor guy couldn’t breath.
Why was it so important to get him out of the car once the engine was off and the keys in the hands of the officers?
because a person with a history of violence (as this man did) can potentially have a weapon hiding out of sight of the cops.. If they don’t get him out, searched and cuffed, a police officer could be dead in a matter of seconds.
Maybe if he just complied with the officers he would have been ok. If he was not feeling well and had complied he could of got help sooner. I feel like the officers did their job and unfortunately it ended in the man having medical episode. It’s hard because now a day if you watch these arrest videos everyone is saying I can’t breathe so it’s hard for officers to determine if you are really having trouble or not. My prayers to the man’s family and to the cops involved as well. People should just comply with officers during a stop!
This shell address is actually Island Heights. Which includes low rated un trained personnel
Warrant or not , They should have blocked his vehicle and waited for ambulance to assist the man until cleared and then arrest him for his warrants.
Instead they used excessive force and killed the man by causing additional distress.
Officers of the Ihpd Rutledge and d’amico can be seen as two of the last hands to touch him prior to him becoming unresponsive and the. They back off. They severely escalated the incident.