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TRENTON
– The Attorney General’s Shooting
Response Team is conducting an investigation
into an incident yesterday in which a trooper
discharged his service weapon and pursued
a fleeing motorist onto I-195, where the
motorist crashed.
According
to a preliminary investigation, Trooper
Thomas Murtha, who is assigned to the State
Police Hamilton Sub-Station, spotted a suspicious
vehicle parked in a dirt cul-de-sac while
on patrol in the Assunpink Wildlife Management
Area off East Branch Road in Upper Freehold
Township shortly before 5 p.m. When the
trooper approached the vehicle, a white
Saturn station wagon, he observed two occupants,
a male driver later identified as Kenneth
M. Snider, 47, of Hamilton, and a female
passenger later identified as Karen L. Ducker,
50, of Trenton. He also allegedly observed
what appeared to be a crack cocaine pipe
and an open liquor bottle in the vehicle.
After asking for the driver’s credentials,
the trooper ordered him out of the vehicle.
However, Snider allegedly put the car in
drive and accelerated toward the trooper,
striking him. At that time, the trooper
discharged his service weapon, but did not
strike either of the vehicle occupants.
A pursuit ensued through Upper Freehold
and onto I-195 westbound. The pursuit ended
when Snider lost control and flipped his
vehicle across the median into the eastbound
lanes near milepost 10. Both subjects were
taken into custody. The trooper and both
subjects were taken to Robert Wood Johnson
Hospital in Hamilton, where all were treated
and released.
Snider was charged with aggravated assault
upon the trooper, eluding, and possession
of crack cocaine. He also was charged with
aggravated assault for causing bodily injury
to Ducker by crashing the vehicle while
eluding police. Ducker was charged with
hindering apprehension and possession of
crack cocaine. Snider and Ducker were held
in the Monmouth County jail, Snider in lieu
of $150,000 bail and Ducker in lieu of $12,500
bail.
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.
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