MAYS LANDING — Why didn’t police simply keep chasing the stolen Mercedes before it crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing two Egg Harbor Township residents?
It is an understandable question after court records revealed that law enforcement encountered the Mercedes multiple times before the Aug. 22 crash.
But New Jersey’s statewide police pursuit policy makes clear that officers do not have unlimited authority to chase a fleeing vehicle — even when that vehicle is stolen.
The rules require officers and supervisors to continuously balance the need to apprehend a suspect against the danger a high-speed pursuit creates for police, suspects and innocent motorists.
That is the point longtime former Egg Harbor Township Mayor Sonny McCullough emphasized Thursday during an appearance on The Don Williams Show on WOND.
“You can go on their website, New Jersey Attorney General’s website, and it sets forth all the regulations that the police have to follow,” McCullough said.
He noted that the state tightened pursuit rules after high-speed crashes in which innocent people were killed.
A review of the actual Attorney General policy shows McCullough’s broader point is correct.
Police can pursue stolen vehicles — but they don’t have to
New Jersey revised its pursuit policy in April 2022 amid a surge in motor-vehicle thefts.
Attorney General Directive 2022-4 specifically added theft of a motor vehicle and receiving a stolen motor vehicle to the list of offenses for which police may initiate a pursuit. The directive remains in force unless repealed, amended or superseded.
That means the common assumption that New Jersey police are simply prohibited from chasing stolen cars is wrong.
But authorization to pursue is not the same as a requirement to pursue.
The policy says an officer must always weigh the need for immediate apprehension against the risk created by the chase.
In other words, even when the suspected crime legally permits a pursuit, an officer can decide that chasing is too dangerous.
The Attorney General’s Office says high-speed pursuits are permitted only under narrowly limited circumstances because of the danger they pose.
Officers can be required to stop chasing
The policy contains several circumstances under which a pursuit must end.
An officer must terminate if a supervisor orders it, if the officer determines the danger to police or the public outweighs the need to immediately apprehend the suspect, or if the pursued vehicle gets so far away that continuing becomes futile.
A pursuit must also stop if there is a “clear and unreasonable danger” to police or the public, including excessive speeds beyond the capabilities of the vehicles or officers involved.
Supervisors have an equally important role.
Once told a pursuit is underway, a supervisor must quickly decide whether it should continue and announce either “pursuit authorized” or “terminate pursuit” over police radio.
The supervisor must end the chase whenever the danger outweighs the need for immediate capture.
And the policy contains a particularly important rule for prolonged pursuits: because of New Jersey’s population density and traffic, supervisors are required to terminate a pursuit of “protracted duration” unless continuing is justified by an imminent threat to public safety.
That helps explain why the answer to “Why didn’t police just keep chasing?” is considerably more complicated than it may first appear.
Traffic and pedestrians matter
The Attorney General policy also creates a strong presumption against beginning or continuing pursuits in areas with pedestrians or heavy vehicle traffic.
That is especially relevant in Atlantic County, where pursuits can quickly move from quiet residential streets onto busy shore roads, bridges and major highways.
Police must reassess conditions as they change.
A chase that might be considered reasonable on an empty road at 3:30 a.m. may present an entirely different level of danger when morning traffic increases several hours later.
The Mercedes was encountered more than once
The discussion follows the Aug. 22 crash that killed Alice Stilwell, 67, and Robert Barr Jr., 54, both of Egg Harbor Township.
Court records reported by NBC10 show the stolen Mercedes had multiple encounters with police before the fatal collision.
Longport police attempted to stop it at approximately 3:42 a.m.
Egg Harbor Township police encountered the vehicle again at approximately 7:18 a.m. in a Walmart parking lot.
Hamilton Township police then saw it at approximately 7:46 a.m. near a housing complex, traveling with another SUV. Both vehicles fled, and police lost sight of the Mercedes.
About six minutes later, the Mercedes crashed head-on into the vehicle carrying Stilwell and Barr.
The publicly available record does not establish that police continuously chased the Mercedes for those four hours.
Rather, the evidence describes separate encounters with law enforcement.
That distinction is critical.
Former mayor cautions against blaming police
McCullough, who served for decades in Egg Harbor Township government and was also a state senator, said he did not believe the available information justified blaming the police departments involved.
He repeatedly cautioned during the interview that portions of his reconstruction of what happened were his own supposition rather than established fact.
But on the broader issue of pursuit policy, he said officers are constrained by statewide rules.
“There’s certain guidelines set aside,” McCullough said when Williams asked whether police are restricted from maintaining high-speed chases.
That distinction is important because the Attorney General policy itself recognizes that officers sometimes make the correct decision by not pursuing or by terminating a chase.
The goal of the policy is not simply to catch a fleeing suspect as quickly as possible. It is to balance apprehension against the possibility that the pursuit itself could cause another crash.
Why police don’t simply shoot out the tires
Williams also raised another question sometimes heard after fleeing-vehicle cases: Why not shoot out the vehicle’s tires?
A retired police officer who called the show quickly rejected that idea.
“You don’t shoot tires out,” the caller said.
He said firearms are used to protect officers or other people, not merely to disable a fleeing automobile.
New Jersey’s Use of Force Policy supports that principle.
Deadly force is permitted only as an absolute last resort when immediately necessary to protect an officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. The state specifically restricts firing at moving vehicles except under narrow circumstances.
The pursuit policy instead permits approved tire-deflation devices, commonly known as spike strips, under controlled circumstances. Their deployment must be coordinated with supervisors and reported afterward.
Eluding itself does not automatically justify a chase
There is another notable provision in the policy.
A driver’s decision to speed away after police attempt a stop may support a criminal charge of eluding.
But the policy specifically says the suspect’s conduct after the attempted stop — including speeding and evasive driving — cannot by itself create the legal justification to start or continue a pursuit.
The justification must be based on qualifying circumstances that existed before the attempted stop, such as the underlying crime or an already-existing imminent threat to public safety.
That rule is designed to prevent a situation in which the mere act of fleeing automatically gives police unlimited authority to chase.
Every pursuit is reviewed
New Jersey also requires officers involved in pursuits to complete a report in the Attorney General’s Use of Force Reporting Portal, generally within 24 hours.
Pursuits receive command-level review, and those determined not to comply with state or agency policy must be reported through additional oversight channels.
That review process could become particularly important in the Mays Landing case.
Because two civilians died following law-enforcement encounters with the stolen Mercedes, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is conducting a separate investigation through its Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
The existence of that investigation does not mean police officers violated pursuit rules.
New Jersey law requires the Attorney General to investigate deaths that occur during certain encounters with law enforcement and ultimately present qualifying cases to a grand jury.
Questions still need answers
What remains unknown publicly is exactly what occurred during each police encounter with the Mercedes.
How long did Longport officers attempt to follow it?
Did Egg Harbor Township officers initiate a pursuit after encountering the vehicle at Walmart?
How long did Hamilton Township officers attempt to follow it before losing sight of it?
What speeds were reached?
What did supervisors instruct officers to do?
And did officers terminate any pursuit because the danger to the public had become greater than the likelihood of safely apprehending the vehicle?
Those answers may ultimately come through police reports, body-camera footage, vehicle-camera recordings and the Attorney General’s investigation.
For now, however, one thing is clear from New Jersey’s written policy:
Police were legally permitted to pursue a stolen vehicle under certain circumstances.
They were also required to stop pursuing if the danger became too great.
That means determining whether officers acted appropriately in the hours before the fatal Route 50 collision requires more than asking whether they had an opportunity to chase.
It requires knowing what officers knew at the time, what conditions they faced and how they applied a policy specifically designed to prevent a pursuit from causing the very kind of tragedy police are trying to avoid.
About the Author
Scott Stephens
Scott has been an on-air personality, producer and newscaster for 30+ years. He has been a mainstay in the South Jersey Community and on the air across many different area stations. Scott can currently be heard on Kool 98.3 and News Talk 1400 & 92.3 WOND.
