AG releases video of fatal police shooting on Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge
Dashcam video of the fatal shooting of a Perth Amboy man during an encounter with Cranford police on the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge in December shows the man firing his weapon out the window of a crashed van at officers even as he's hanging upside down by his legs from the vehicle.
The man killed in the shooting was previously identified by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office as 40-year-old Kevin Harlfinger.
One of the officers was shot in the right arm during the encounter and a tourniquet was applied, according to the video and radio transmissions.
The Attorney General's Office on Thursday released bodycam and dashcam footage along with radio communications of the Dec. 29, 2023 incident. Radio transmissions indicate there may have been another suspect, but the videos showed no one else in the van beside Harlfinger.
The videos show a man, later identified as Harlfinger, driving a white 2004 work van through local streets and through stop signs before cutting off a police vehicle as it entered the Garden State Parkway southbound with a police vehicle behind it, lights and siren activated.
The van appears to be traveling at a high speed, crossing multiple lanes all the way over to the left side of the roadway and then back toward the right, weaving around other vehicles and even driving on the shoulder as it continues down the Parkway.
The van travels south on the highway past several exits before crashing into a guardrail at exit 131 in Woodbridge.
The video shows a man starting to climb out the driver's side window of the van and firing out the window at police. As he’s hanging from the window upside down by his legs, the man continues firing his gun at police, who return fire several times before the man is pulled from the vehicle to the ground. One officer is seen placing a gun, which appeared to be picked up from the ground, onto the hood of a patrol car.
A preliminary investigation indicates officers from the Cranford Police Department were pursuing a stolen vehicle when it crashed. After the crash, the driver of the vehicle, Harlfinger, exchanged gunfire with Cranford Police Officers Christopher Folinusz and Ryan McSharry, according to the Attorney General's Office.
Harlfinger was pronounced dead at the scene at about 12:04 a.m. Dec. 29. A firearm was recovered near Harlfinger. Folinusz sustained a non-fatal gunshot wound, was treated at a hospital and later released, the Attorney General's Office said.
The fatal shooting is under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. The recordings were released pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 to promote the fair, impartial and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters.
Investigators provided representatives of Harlfinger’s family with an opportunity to review the recordings prior to their public release.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: AG releases video of fatal police shooting on Garden State Parkway
