The family of a retired black US Army major are demanding an investigation into his fatal shooting at the hands of New Jersey police officers, alleging that he was wrongfully gunned down while in the throes of a mental health crisis that might have been triggered by fireworks.
Gulia Dale III, 61, was shot multiple times by Newton police officers just after 9.30pm on the Fourth of July after the veteran's wife called 911 to report that he was armed and 'acting crazy.'
Redacted body camera video that was released by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office earlier this month shows officers arrive at an address on Clive Place in Newton to find Dale, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, sitting in the driver's seat of his pickup truck.
Body camera footage from the Newton Police Department shows police confront Army veteran Gulia Dale III, 61, outside his home in New Jersey on July 4
In the video, Dale refuses officers' commands to get down on the ground and grabs something from the backseat of his truck
Dale appears to point something toward the officers, who open fire on him
Dale was a married father who served in the military for 30 years. His family said he had PTSD and would get trigged by loud noises
An officer orders Dale to get out of the vehicle. The man briefly complies with the command, but then opens the rear passenger door and appears to grab something from the backseat.
He momentarily climbs back into the driver's seat and then emerges pointing something in the direction of the responding officers, two of whom open fire on him.
Dale collapses to the ground, bleeding profusely. He was later pronounced dead.
Investigators said a .45-caliber Glock was found next to Dale's body.
According to Dale's family, the veteran was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his military service, which may have been set off by his neighbors' Independence Day fireworks displays that night, reported NBC News.
Dale's sister, Valerie Cobbertt, and the NAACP together have filed an internal affairs complaint, calling on the Newton Police Department to investigate what the civil rights organization dubbed an 'alleged, unspeakable execution.'
Cobbertt said she believes police would have responded to the 911 call differently had her brother been white.
Dale is pictured bleeding on the ground after being struck by multiple rounds outside his home in Newton, New Jersey
Dale's family argue that had he been white, police would have treated him differently
Officials say a .45-caliber Glock was recovered next to Dale's body (circled in red)
'His wife called for someone to come and help because she feared that he may take his own life,' the man's sister told NBC. 'When they came, that was not the case. They murdered my brother.'
According to the family, Dale, a married father-of-two, served in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War, and was then activated again on September 11, 2001, completing a tour of duty in Iraq.
In later years, he worked for the Pentagon and at the Picatinny Arsenal in Wharton, New Jersey. He and wife Karen have lived in Newton for 28 years. The town of 8,000 people, located 60 miles northwest of New York, is overwhelmingly white, with just 4.7 per cent of its inhabitants being listed as black in the most recent US Census.
In the course of his 30-year military service in the US Army and the National Guard, Dale was said to have survived an unspecified life-threatening event, which left him with PTSD that could be triggered by loud noises, according to North Jersey Herald.
The veteran's neighbor told the New Jersey Herald that on the night of the shooting, fireworks were being detonated all over town in celebration of the Fourth of July.
Cobbertt alleged that the officers who responded to Karen Dale's distress call seeking help for her distraught husband did nothing to de-escalate the situation because of his race.
'They see us differently,' she said, referring to African-Americans. 'And they treat us differently.'
Karen Dale, Gulia's wife , called 911 on July 4, saying her husband was armed and 'acting crazy'
Dale's sister, Valerie Cobbertt, is now leading the charge to get justice for her brother. She is pictured at a vigil that was held in his honor on August 21
The Newton Police Department has not commented on the incident, instead referring all inquires to the state attorney general's office, which is investigating the officer-involved shooting. At the conclusion of the probe, the case will be presented to a grand jury to decide whether criminal charges should be filed against the officers.
Two of the three officers who responded to the scene and fired shots at Dale were named as Steven Kneidl and Garrett Armstrong. Both officers are white.
According to previous reporting, Kneidl joined the department in May 2019, while Armstrong was sworn as a police officer in November 2020. Their current employment status is unknown.
The third officer has not been publicly identified because the attorney general's office said he did not discharge his weapon.
Dale's family are now calling on the authorities to release unedited footage from all body cameras, name all three officers who were on the scene and conduct a full and thorough investigation.
