Roughly 200 people stood up in the City of Poughkeepsie for a rally and candlelight vigil Monday night, demanding justice for Maurice Gordon, a 28- year-old unarmed Black motorist who was shot six times by a New Jersey state trooper on the Garden State Parkway on May 23 during a roadside assistance call.
A video of the incident, released 16 days after his death, shows Gordon in the state trooper’s truck, visibly uncomfortable, and leaves the truck to go back to his vehicle while they waited for the tow truck.
The officer can be heard yelling “to stay in the fucking car” but a “physical confrontation ensued when Mr. Gordon did not comply,” according to the state’s narrative.
The trooper, identified as Sgt. Wetzel, is heard on the stationary dash cam video tape yelling for Mr. Gordon to “get out of the fucking car now” which, according to the state’s narrative, was when Mr. Gordon first tried to sit in the driver’s seat of Wetzel’s car.
"After shooting Maurice six times and leaving him on the side of the Garden State Parkway, the sergeant handcuffed his mortally wounded body," William Wagstaff, an attorney for Gordon’s family, tells CNN.