Shootout by the outlets
Downtown gunfight challenges Atlantic County cops
On March 27, 2014, Atlantic City police were
notified that Pleasantville officers were in pursuit of a vehicle heading into the city. The suspect had brandished a weapon in a local
restaurant and was now on the run.
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“We heard the pursuit coming across and we
got there,” recalled Atlantic City Local 24 Detective Paul Petinga, who along with Detectives
Julie Cash, Daryl Dabney, Christopher McMahon and Kirk Sparks, located Pleasantville Lieutenant Matthew Hartman and Officers Elvis Nunez and Kamen
Potts, already involved.
Upon arrival, the suspect fled in his vehicle, shooting at Cash and
McMahon while on the move. A pursuit continued into Atlantic
City’s shopping district and came to an end when the suspect’s vehicle struck a parked car.
The actor then exited the vehicle and began firing at the officers.
“It was in the middle of Atlantic City in the tourism district on Missouri and Atlantic avenues where the shops are,” Petinga described.
“So while he was shooting at us we had to be concerned for all the
traffic and pedestrians in the area.”
Making matters even more complicated, most of the arriving officers were in plain clothes.
“The other department didn’t know who we were,” Petinga
emphasized. “We had our badges displayed but in a situation like
that it’s pretty tough. There’s a lot going on.”
After a brief gun battle in the heart of the city, the officers shot and
killed the shooter, thus ending the threat.
“Apparently he was on PCP,” added Petinga, for whom this was his
first time in a large shootout. “He was a big guy and wouldn’t go
down. But our training kicked in and it was only the bad guy who got
hit.”
Even though their undeniably heroic actions against an armed
assailant was by the books and saved lives, it took about a year and
a half for a Grand Jury to officially clear the officers involved of misdoings.
“We were put through a lot,” Petinga expressed. “The prosecutor’s
office taking forever, nobody giving us answers, and we’re in limbo
for a long time. They cut our pay and everything like that. It was like,
‘What did we do wrong?’ Everybody was saying we were heroes, but
at the same time, nobody was giving us answers and we were wondering what would happen next.”
Unable to get back to work until the Grand Jury’s decision – one
arguably elongated due to all the shootings across the country,
Petinga pondered – many of the officers involved retired during the
saga.
“The prosecutor’s office was trying to cover themselves and it
adds a lot of stress as time builds up,” he added. “Then you turn on
the TV every day and see more police shootings and people are looking at how many times he was shot because he was on PCP and
wouldn’t go down. He was shooting at us the whole time.”
Eventually the big day came, and the officers received a call from
the Local saying they had been cleared. Only a week b Y