Riverdale police Officer Andrew Duffy was cleared of shooting Michael Rivera, 32, of Newark on Jan. 23, 2020.
Prosecutors said the state’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigated the incident and presented details to a grand jury of 16 to 23 New Jersey residents, who ultimately voted against charging the officer, Andrew Duffy. The announcement clears Duffy of criminal liability.
The shooting happened Jan. 23, 2020. Duffy, who had been on the force for six years at the time, attempted to confront Michael Rivera, 32, of Newark at about 10:15 a.m. in the parking lot of a business in connection to a theft investigation, state prosecutors wrote Tuesday in a news release. Rivera got into a vehicle and drove away, prosecutors said.
Duffy and other officers gave chase. Video from Duffy’s dash-mounted camera captures the officer telling dispatchers that Rivera was driving at about 80 mph and dangerously passing other vehicles. Duffy pursued as Rivera turned off Hamburg Turnpike and past an elementary school into a small, residential neighborhood, crossing from Riverdale in Morris County into neighboring Bloomingdale in Passaic County. A mailman waved to direct the officer toward Rivera, who had doubled back and drove toward the officer.The pursuit ended on Matthews Drive, which terminates in a cul-de-sac. Other officers were already there by the time Duffy arrived.
Duffy sustained a foot injury. Rivera was taken to Chilton Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.protested to bring attention“I didn’t want for him to be forgotten,” Nelly Rodriguez said of her fiancé at the time. “There are more George Floyds out there.”