Rebecca Baker and Monsy Alvarado
The Record
LEONIA, N.J. — Shouting “Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” a police officer responding to a reported robbery at a Leonia pharmacy last week follows a suspect down the street with his gun drawn. As other officers join in the chase, a radio dispatcher says the person has a knife and is “uncooperative.”
Ninety seconds later, off camera, a shot rings out, followed in rapid succession by at least a dozen more.
The audio and video were recorded by the patrol car’s dashboard camera during what became a fatal encounter between police officers and Leonia resident Rickey McFadden after he reportedly robbed a CVS Pharmacy on Broad Avenue on Nov. 25.
The footage was released Wednesday by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the same day authorities released “use of force” reports filed by the two Palisades Park officers who fired their weapons. Both said that McFadden, 47, resisted and threatened the officers.
Also Wednesday, Palisades Park police identified those officers as Patrolmen Kyung Uk “Louis” Lee, 35, and Christopher DeSotto, 34. The names and the use-of-force reports were provided in response to an Open Public Records Act request filed last week by The Record.
A Leonia officer also fired at McFadden, but the department has not provided his name or his use-of-force report, which were also requested by The Record. The Prosecutor’s Office said it did not have the report.
Leonia Police Chief Jay Ziegler sent an email Tuesday stating he did not plan to release the name any time soon, saying the identity of the officer had no bearing on the facts of the case and would only subject the officer to unnecessary attention during a stressful time. Ziegler did not respond to email and phone messages Wednesday.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, whose office is investigating the shooting, has provided limited details, declining to say how many shots were fired or where McFadden was hit. He has characterized the shooting as self-defense.
The Prosecutor’s Office also provided the tape of a 911 call received around 4:30 p.m. in which a woman tells a dispatcher that the pharmacy is being held up by a man with a knife and that he turned left as he exited the store.
“He’s trying to rob the store,” she told the dispatcher. “Tell them he’s got a long knife.”
The use-of-force reports do not contain detailed accounts, just boxes that officers can check. Lee and DeSotto both checked three boxes: for resisting officers, physically threatening officers and threatening them with a knife.
DeSotto stated in his report that he fired seven shots, while Lee reported he fired an unknown number. Both indicated they did not know how many hit McFadden. No autopsy has been made public.
Rosemarie Arnold, the lawyer hired by McFadden’s family, said Tuesday, in filing a notice of intent to sue, that a total of 17 shots were fired by the three officers. McFadden’s relatives have said that he was bipolar and schizophrenic and that Leonia police were aware of his struggles with mental illness.
Lee served as a volunteer with the borough’s ambulance squad for three years before being sworn as an officer in July 2000. Earlier, he had worked as a part-time police dispatcher and a special officer in town. He also served as a Korean and Spanish volunteer interpreter for the Police Department, and later as a Korean translator for the Municipal Court.
As a police officer, Lee also accompanied building and fire inspectors on visits to suspected illegal boardinghouses, said Rochelle Park Township Committeeman Frank Valenzuela, a former housing inspector in Palisades Park. He described Lee as polite, conscientious and well-respected. “I’ve seen him grow up, and I’m very upset for him and everyone involved in this,’' said Valenzuela, who worked in the borough until 2009.
DeSotto also served as a volunteer with the ambulance squad before joining the department about 12 years ago. He was honored, along with another volunteer, in 1997 for aiding a stabbing victim before an ambulance arrived.
Another Palisades Park officer, Thomas Juliano, was at the scene but did not fire his weapon, Chief Benjamin Ramos said in an email Wednesday. Juliano, who is the son of Fairview police Capt. Thomas Juliano, joined the department earlier this year.
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