Indictment dropped against Paterson officer who shot gun suspect as new evidence emerges

PATERSON — State authorities are dropping their indictment against Paterson police officer Jerry Moravek for shooting a fleeing gun suspect in the back in June 2022, saying they recently learned of photos showing the man with a gun within hours of the incident.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office said it will reinvestigate the shooting, including the new evidence of the gun photos, and eventually present the case to a state grand jury once again.

Moravek’s police body camera video of the incident recorded him repeatedly yelling to the suspect, 28-year-old Khalif Cooper , to “drop the gun.”

Immediately after the shooting, Moravek’s body camera recorded Cooper telling him that he didn’t have a gun.

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Minutes after that conversation, recordings showed Moravek finding a gun nearby, along the route he had been chasing Cooper.

The AG’s original criminal complaints against Moravek said there was “no DNA or fingerprint evidence” that connected the gun that Moravek found to Cooper.

The AG’s office filed its request to dismiss Moravek’s indictment with the courts on Monday.

State became aware of additional evidence

“The mission of every prosecution agency must be to do the right thing for the right reason all of the time,” said a spokesperson for the state agency. “In the state’s prosecution of Jerry Moravek, the Office of the Public Integrity and Accountability recently became aware of additional evidence.”

“While we are confident that the state would prevail in court on any motion brought by the defendant to challenge the indictment already obtained in this case, we have filed this motion to ensure any grand jury charged with considering the events of the night in question has the available evidence, inclusive of the additional evidence,” the AG spokesperson continued.

“It is the state’s intention to complete a reinvestigation based on the new evidence and re-present our case to a grand jury,” concluded the statement. “Our aim is not to win, but to do justice.  Our motion seeking to dismiss the indictment without prejudice allows the state to do just that.”

Moravek’s lawyer, Charles J. Sciarra, expressed pleasure with the state’s decision.

“Police officer Jerry Moravek was on the scene arresting one guy with a gun when shots were fired a block away,” Sciarra said. “His oath is to protect and serve. He ran to the shots. He ran to the danger. He encountered a suspect running away with a gun and the newly found evidence proves it.”

“Moravek did what we ask all our police officers to do: Run to the danger,” Sciarra added. “Protect and serve.”

Moravel became a Paterson police officer in 2014. He has been on paid leave from his $85,000 job for the past 17 months. It was not clear on Tuesday whether Moravek would return to work as a result of the dismissal.

Khalif Cooper has filed suit against Paterson and Moravek

The shooting happened at about 3:15 a.m. on June 11, 2022 in the area of Garretson Street in Paterson’s 1st Ward. Cooper has filed a lawsuit against the City of Paterson, its police department, and Moravek saying the shooting left him partially paralyzed, and unable to walk.

In its letter to the courts on Monday, the AG’s Office described how it came to find out about the gun photos. The letter said Moravek’s lawyers in April had requested, as part of the evidence discovery process, reports on two cell phones seized from the area of the shooting.

At that point, the AG’s Office realized it had never received those reports, which had been created by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the letter said. The AG’s Public Integrity Office learned “for the first time” in June 2024 that one of the phones had photos of Cooper that “appear to support” that Cooper had a gun during the morning of June 11, 2022 or the night of June 10, 2022, according to the AG’s letter.

The AG’s Office did not say whose phone the pictures were found on or who took the photos.

The letter said “the failure” to present the photos to the original Moravek grand jury would not have required the indictment to be dismissed. But the state made the decision out of "fairness" to Moravek. The AG’s motion for dismissal still requires approval by the Superior Court judge handling the case, Marilyn Clark.

Paterson police union leaders welcomed the AG’s dismissal motion.

“The Paterson PBA considers Morvek's actions that day to be nothing but heroic," said Angel Jiminez, the union president Angel Jimenez. "Jerry is looked up to the by membership and this union. We will always be here for any of our membership.”

“I would like to acknowledge and thank the mayor for his unwavering support during this process,” Jiminez said.

Mayor Sayegh questioned the original charges

At the time the AG’s Office filed the original charges against Moravek, Mayor Andre Sayegh questioned that decision. That dispute marked the beginning of a rift between Paterson’s mayor and Attorney General Matthew Platkin that worsened after the state seized control of the city police department in March 2023.

Sayegh has a pending lawsuit trying to nullify the state takeover.

“Today’s decision by the Attorney General’s office to drop the charges against Jerry Moravek vindicates what I have believed all along: the officer was just doing his job,” Sayegh asserted. “This outcome underscores the flaws in the AG’s decision to take over our police department, which I have consistently criticized as unjustified and overreaching.”

Meanwhile, Paterson Black Lives Matter leader Zellie Thomas expressed shock at the AG’s decision to dismiss the Moravek indictment.

“I’m really confused because when it went to the grand jury the AG seemed very strong and confident that the officer was wrong and shouldn’t have shot someone who was fleeing,” Thomas said. “The recovered gun was not near him.”

The social justice activist said he thinks the impending dismissal sends a wrong message.

“The country is looking for accountability for police officers,” Thomas said. “But we’re not getting accountability.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Indictment dropped against Paterson officer who shot gun suspect as new evidence emerges