Opinion ID: 4304008
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lincoln Park Events

Text: Eventually, Bland began driving the wrong way down Lincoln Park, a one-way street. While doing so, he collided both with Thompson and Murphy in their marked state police car and an occupied Newark Police vehicle. When Bland hit the Newark police car, he was travelling approximately 25 to 35 miles per hour, and the impact caused the police car to strike an unoccupied parked car. As a result, the Audi, the police car, and the unoccupied car became entangled. State Trooper 1 Discrepancies exist about the spelling of this trooper’s name. We adopt the spelling provided by the trooper in his deposition. 5 Thomas Espinoza, who had received a radio transmission about an ongoing pursuit involving a vehicle carjacked at gunpoint, arrived on the scene shortly after these collisions. Numerous officers surrounded the Audi, including Murphy, Thompson, Oliveira, Sardanopoli, Espinoza, and State Trooper William Legg. 2 Many of the officers ordered Bland to surrender, and one officer attempted to break the Audi’s window by striking it. During this encounter, the six state troopers fired a total of 28 shots, none of which hit Bland. Newark Police Officer Thomas Del Mauro was present at Lincoln Park, but he did not discharge his weapon. There is no evidence in the record that Bland attempted to surrender at this time. Instead, he revved the Audi’s engine, spun its tires, and tried to get the vehicle to accelerate. Bland ultimately freed the Audi from the Newark police car by reversing and striking the now-unoccupied state police car a second time. 3 He then drove over a curb and through a public park. Upon exiting the park, Bland continued to speed through Newark with his lights off, at times on roads populated with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Officers and state 2 Bland does not identify any actions taken by Riefler or Holguin at Lincoln Park. 3 Both the Newark officers and the state troopers contend that Bland drove aggressively at the officers as he attempted to flee, but Bland disputes this characterization. That dispute is immaterial, however, because all parties agree that officers were standing less than 10 feet from the Audi as Bland extricated it from the two vehicles. 6 troopers continued to pursue Bland, but Thompson and Murphy were no longer involved because their vehicle was disabled when it was struck by the Audi at Lincoln Park. During this portion of the chase, a state police car struck an occupied civilian vehicle. Bland eventually drove to the intersection of 18th Avenue and Livingston Street, where the most vigorously disputed series of events took place.