Can Najee Seabrooks' fatal shooting be the moment to change Paterson's police? | Our view
As Engelbert Ribeiro departed Paterson’s International High School after taking the oath of office as the city’s new chief of police last Friday at midday, he received grave news.
Ribeiro learned that members of his department’s Emergency Response Team had been engaged in an hours-long standoff with Najee Seabrooks, a violence intervention specialist with the Paterson Healing Collective. Police responded to a call that Seabrooks had barricaded himself inside an apartment at 20 Mill St.
As Joe Malinconico, our colleague and editor of Paterson Press, has reported this week, it is still not clear what prompted Seabrooks to barricade himself nor is it clear why police were called. Eventually, law enforcement sources told Paterson Press, police entered the residence and found a chaotic scene in which Seabrooks had spilled alcohol in the apartment, started a small fire and compromised the home’s plumbing. At some point, officials said, he brandished knives at responding officers and attempted to attack one with a porcelain toilet tank lid. Eventually, after trying to subdue Seabrooks, officers fired their weapons. Seabrooks was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's University Medical Center just before 1 p.m. last Friday afternoon.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, tasked with leading the investigation into the fatal shooting, initially declined to release the names of the responding officers — including those who ultimately decided to forgo Tasers and other de-esecalation measures and shot Seabrooks.
Late Wednesday, the attorney general released the names of the officers involved in the incident: Anzore Tsay and Jose Hernandez, members of the Emergency Response Team, fired their weapons and struck, the attorney general's office said.
Three other officers, Hector Mendez, Qiad Lin and Mario Vdovjak, used "less lethal force" during the encounter, the attorney general's office said.
This week, Pat Caserta, an attorney for the Paterson police union who is representing officers in the Seabrooks shooting, said the officers tried to help Seabrooks and expressed his hope that they would ultimately be cleared in the incident.
Still, Seabrooks' shooting immediately recalled other high-profile cases in which Paterson police officers were involved with the deaths of emotionally disturbed people: the Jameek Lowery case of 2019 and the 2012 fatal shooting of Saulo Del Rosario.
The fatal shooting also presented just the latest straining challenge for the Paterson Police Department — and just as its new leader assumed command.
Activists, including members of the Paterson Healing Collective, have said again and again this week that this is just the latest inflection point for the Paterson Police and the latest opportunity to seriously consider how the department operates in a city that continues to cope with relentless shootings and homicides — many connected to an equally relentless drug trade.
The latest: Lawyer for Paterson cops who shot Najee Seabrooks says they tried to help him
Earlier: NJ Attorney General releases names of officers who fatally shot Najee Seabrooks
Subscriber exclusive: Najee Seabrooks’ death is latest controversy over police role in mental health crises
Questions unanswered
As Ribeiro begins the latest round of urgent work to shore up his struggling department, there are urgent questions that need answering in the Seabrooks case:
First, the attorney general’s office should expedite its release of body-cam footage of the Seabrooks incident — at the ongoing requests of Paterson Press, activists, Mayor Andre Sayegh and the more than 250 demonstrators who rallied in front of Paterson City Hall on Tuesday evening.
Second, both the Paterson Police Department and the attorney general’s office should explain why they declined to use Tasers or other tactics to subdue Seabrooks. Last weekend, as information about the hours-long confrontation began to emerge, law enforcement sources told Paterson Press that officers declined to use Tasers because there was water present in the Mill Street Apartment. The public deserves more detail — and Paterson Press and NorthJersey.com will be unrelenting in pursuing key facts in this case.
Third, the attorney general’s office and Paterson Police must dialogue immediately with members of the Paterson Healing Collective, some of whom contend that had they been allowed to help officers interact or negotiate with Seabrooks, one of their close colleagues, he might well be alive. At the scene on Mill Street, Liza Chowdhury, project director for the Paterson Healing Collective, said she and members of her team pleaded with officers to let them intercede. Citing guidelines, police declined. We believe the Paterson Healing Collective’s work to help stabilize shooting victims and others facing trauma is an invaluable tool in any effort to stem the tides of violence that continue to wash over Paterson. Police and the PHC must find a better way to work together.
A department in crisis
All of the questions in the Seabrook case go unanswered, of course, against a frustrating backdrop: the Paterson Police Department seems trapped in an endless cycle of lurching from crisis to crisis.
Consider:
While crime is ebbing from pandemic-fueled highs, Paterson is still dealing with constant violence. Last month, a teenager was fatally stabbed at Eastside High School, prompting increased police foot patrols at and around the school’s campus.
The Attorney General in early February charged Officer Jerry Moravek with aggravated assault and official misconduct for shooting Khalif Cooper, 28, in a June 2022 foot chase in which Moravek believed Cooper was armed. That case has clearly strained relationships between police leaders, the mayor’s office and leaders in Trenton.
Felix DeJesus, a Haledon man who disappeared after interactions with Paterson Police in February 2022, remains missing. The DeJesus family and activists continue to press for answers in his case.
Crime rates remain frustratingly high. There were 27 homicides and 101 shootings in Paterson in 2022, and 30 homicides and 113 shootings, according to Paterson Press statistics and state police reports. Those numbers represent 30-year highs.
Efforts to establish a civilian review board remain stalled as city officials wait for the outcome of a pending court challenge by police unions in Newark to that city’s civilian review board.
The legacy of the so-called “Robbery Squad,” a group of eight cops who were the subject of an FBI investigation that ultimately led to multiple convictions for a variety of crimes.
Multiple use-of-force lawsuits and cases are wending their way through adjudication in various courts.
The department has had three chiefs in four years.
Despite recruitment efforts, department staffing numbers remain around 400, below the state standard for a city of Paterson’s size. The department should be as large as 439 members.
As Ribeiro takes office, he surely knows there is considerable work to do.
“Trust doesn’t happen overnight, we need to earn that trust,” Ribeiro said in remarks at his swearing in last week.
Chief, we could not agree more. You — and other city officials, including Mayor Andre Sayegh, who regularly opines on these pages about the city’s ongoing efforts to improve public safety — have considerable work to do.
Specifically, we urge you to:
Convene soon with city leaders and leaders in the activist community — including the Paterson Healing Collective to start a process of listening, healing and collaboration. We would welcome an opportunity to convene such a session.
Appeal to leaders in Trenton and Washington now for badly-needed resources to bolster recruitment and the department's capacity to respond to crime. The hotspots in the 4th Ward and elsewhere in Paterson are intolerable and have to be eradicated, likely with the help of state and federal law enforcement agencies. Appeal to those colleagues now for their urgent help.
Consider new alternatives to how the department is functionally organized and operated that are better suited to a diverse and increasingly dynamic community.
A path forward
Najee Seabrooks survived an earlier shooting. That trauma led him to the Paterson Healing Collective and its important work on Paterson's troubled streets.
"We demand justice and will continue Najee's work of bringing safety and healing to Paterson," Chowdhury said this week at a vigil in Seabrooks' memory. "Rest in love, Najee. We love you so much."
As Paterson continues to grieve Seabrooks' loss — as it continues to grapple with crime and as its police department grapples with how to move forward — we can only hope his lasting legacy will be one of meaningful change for a city so desperately in need of a new beginning.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ Najee Seabrooks police shooting change policing? Editorial
