Cops ID N.J. man who died after 25-minute standoff in car with police

The Attorney General’s Office identified a man who died in an encounter with police earlier this year in Ocean County after police had to forcefully remove him from his car.
John Cassidy, 47, of Toms River died on April 19 after what authorities said was a medical episode following his forced removal from a car by police officers in Island Heights.
At about 1 p.m. on April 19, Island Heights police officers Peter Muscarella, Dominique D’Amico-Violante and Lt. Paul Rutledge attempted to arrest Cassidy at a gas station on Route 37 near West End Avenue after they discovered he had active warrants, officials said.
Cassidy re-entered his car despite police instructing him not to and refused to exit the car after being ordered to by police, officials said.
According to authorities, officers tried to convince Cassidy to exit the car for about 25 minutes.
Body camera footage from the encounter shows Cassidy at times yelling at police, revving the engine of his car and on his phone or writing something on a note pad.
With the help of three Toms River police officers and a sergeant from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, the officers started to forcefully pull Cassidy from the car, officials said.
Cassidy can be heard on camera yelling that he couldn’t breathe and that he needed an ambulance while officers tried to remove him from the car.
Officers were able to bring Cassidy to the ground and handcuff him, but moments later he suffered a medical episode and was provided with medical aid at the scene, officials said.
One officer tried to calm Cassidy down while he was being handcuffed, according to the video, and when Cassidy was unresponsive ran to get an oxygen tank from his patrol car.
Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and transported Cassidy to Community Medical Center in Toms River where he was later pronounced deceased at 2:25 p.m.
Representatives of Cassidy’s family were given an opportunity to review video recordings of the encounter prior to the public release of the video, officials said.
An investigation into the fatal encounter remains ongoing and no further information was released by officials Tuesday.
Under a 2019 law, the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigates all fatal encounters with law enforcement acting in their official capacity and presents evidence to a grand jury in order to determine if an indictment is necessary.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow Matt on X.