Three Ventnor officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man wielding a broken bottle will not face criminal charges, a grand jury decided Monday.
Amir Johnson, 30, was fatally shot Aug. 6, 2020, after police were called to the border between Ventnor and Atlantic City along Wellington and West End avenues.
“We don’t want to do this man, come on,” a Ventnor police officer tells Amir Johnson just seconds before the man is shot.
Police were first called to the scene by a postal worker who said the man was bleeding from the neck and was wandering in traffic.
“He literally stopped traffic in the middle of the road,” the postal worker is heard saying in a tape of the call. “I don’t know if he’s on something. He’s just running in front of cars.”
The worker can be heard telling the man he can’t get in the truck.
The Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigated the incident and presented the findings to a grand jury, which decided not to indict the officers.
It was previously released that Ventnor Officers Michael Arena, Pierluigi Mancuso and Robert Scarborough fired at Johnson.
An Atlantic City officer responded to the scene as well, but did not discharge his weapon.
In his body camera video, he threatens to deploy his taser, but then says he's unsure it's even working. Ventnor police did nt have tasers at the time.
The investigation included interviews of witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of video footage and autopsy results from the medical examiner.
“You think you can drop that bottle for us?” asks a Ventnor officer who identified himself to Johnson as a supervisor named Brian.
“The only thing that comes with it is a bullet,” Johnson replies.
“We don’t want that, Amir,” he says.
“Looks like he already cut himself and he wants us to shoot him,” the officer later says.
One of the three videos is from an Atlantic City officer. In that one, he threatens to deploy the taser. But he then says he’s not sure if it’s even working.
“We don’t want to do this man. Stop,” says one of the Ventnor officers as Johnson is seen walking away into the marsh.
Johnson then turns and starts running toward them as the officer continues to yell for him to stop.
Johnson screams and falls as he runs toward them, but gets back up and continues yelling at the officers.
He then walks toward the officer whose camera captures the events.
“Drop the bottle. Drop it,” the officer yells as Johnson picks up the pace.
About five or six gunshots are heard as Johnson doubles over and falls.
He is then ordered to drop the bottle again.
“Drop the bottle. We can help you. Drop it,” the officer says as Johnson yells in pain.
He eventually lets go of the bottle and then the officers handcuff him as medics are called.
“Amir, we can help you,” one says.
He was rushed by ambulance to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's City Campus, where he was pronounced deceased at approximately 6 p.m.
