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TRENTON
– The Attorney General’s Shooting
Response Team is conducting an investigation
into the death of a man who was arrested
by the State Police on the New Jersey Turnpike
late last night.
According
to a preliminary investigation, Trooper
Jason Sowinski was on patrol in the northbound
lanes of the Turnpike in Teaneck about 11
p.m. when he came upon a white 2007 BMW
530i stopped in the left lane of travel.
The trooper investigated and discovered
that the car was occupied by a male driver.
The driver’s window was open and the
driver was unresponsive when the trooper
approached him. The trooper ultimately was
able to wake the man and had him move the
car to the right shoulder of the highway.
Additional
troopers arrived and the motorist was given
a sobriety test at the scene. When Troopers
Sowinski, Ian Rosenberg and Joshua Coppola
attempted to arrest the man for driving
while intoxicated, he resisted and struggled
with the troopers. The troopers had to physically
restrain the man to handcuff him. The motorist
subsequently experienced some type of medical
distress. The troopers administered first
aid and requested paramedics. The man was
taken by ambulance to Englewood Hospital,
where he was pronounced dead.
The
motorist has been identified as Robert J.
Tuite Jr., 34, of Patchogue, N.Y.
The
incident remains under investigation by
the Attorney General’s Shooting Response
Team. Under an Attorney General directive,
deputy attorneys general and detectives
from the Division of Criminal Justice, as
well as detectives from the State Police
Major Crime Unit, are dispatched to the
scene to investigate shootings and other
incidents involving the State Police or
certain other law enforcement agencies.
The Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s
Office is assisting in the investigation.
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