TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office today identified the decedent and police officers with respect to a death following a police encounter on September 16, 2024, in Bayonne, New Jersey. The civilian who died in the wake of that encounter has been identified as Juan Poche, 44, of Bayonne, New Jersey.
According to the preliminary investigation, at 12:18 a.m., after receiving a 911 call, police officers from the Bayonne Police Department were dispatched to an apartment building on Broadway, in the vicinity of Linnet Street. The 911 caller was concerned after reportedly hearing “a lot” of screaming coming from an apartment.
Responding officers approached the apartment described by the caller and heard yelling coming from inside. Officers encountered the man who had been yelling, later identified as Mr. Poche, and requested medical assistance. Bayonne Police Sgt. Matthew Tarbett and Police Officers Christian Cella, Marcin Chojnowski, and Ernesto Naveed restrained Mr. Poche for his own safety and for medical personnel to transport him to Bayonne Medical Center, where he was later pronounced deceased at 8:44 a.m. The cause and manner of death are under investigation.
A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.