A day before Maurice Gordon, a 28-year-old Uber driver, was shot and killed during what should have been a routine traffic stop, a worried friend of the slain man had called police in New Jersey. “He said he was just going to go for a drive. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going,” the unidentified friend said in a 911 recording. “He looked very very panicked.” He also complained about paranormal activity, the friend said. Then, he left. “I told him ‘give me the keys, tell me what’s up,’” the friend said, “but he wouldn’t tell me what’s up, and he kept asking: ‘Do I look possessed? Do I look possessed?’”
Gordon died May 23 when Sgt. Randall Wetzel fired at him six times and placed him in handcuffs, ending a roughly 30-hour period of 911 calls and traffic-related run-ins with law enforcement officers. After completing its investigation, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s office released video footage and 911 recordings Monday of the hours leading up to Gordon’s death.
Although his friend called police at about 3:25 AM May 22, Gordon’s initial encounter with authorities happened just before 3:15 AM the next day, May 23. An off-duty officer in the New Jersey town of Red Bank spotted Gordon’s car, which had run out of gas and was stopped in the middle of a street, according to the attorney general’s office. The officer called Gordon a tow truck then left, but more than an hour later a state trooper spotted his stopped car, the attorney general’s office said. That trooper also called a tow truck and left before someone eventually gave Gordon a ride to a nearby Wawa convenience store to get gas at about 5:30 AM.
About 45 minutes later, Gordon was again on the road and had attracted another state trooper's attention, this time for allegedly driving 101 miles per hour, the attorney general’s office said. The next encounter Gordon had with police about 10 minutes later would be his last. Wetzel stopped him for allegedly speeding at 110 miles per hour, and the officer asked Gordon to move his car.
The Gordon family’s attorney, William O. Wagstaff III, told nj.com that’s when he again experienced car trouble and the trooper called a tow truck. “Mr. Gordon did not want to remain in his vehicle so he was invited by the trooper to sit in the back of the trooper’s vehicle,” Wagstaff told nj.com. The trooper frisked Gordon and found no weapons, the attorney added.
“Once in the back of the trooper’s vehicle he was made to sit there for more than 30 minutes without any information being provided, not being issued a ticket, and there was no indication he was under arrest,” Wagstaff said.
Redacted police video released by the attorney general’s office showed Gordon reach out of the window while he was seated in the trooper’s car. The attorney general’s office said in an email to reporters that Gordon tried to enter the driver's seat of Wetzel's car and the trooper pepper-sprayed Gordon. Wetzel later removed Gordon from the vehicle and, “after a physical struggle” Wetzel shot and killed Gordon, the attorney general’s office said.
In video of the incident, Wetzel could be heard repeatedly telling Gordon to “get the f—k out of the car” before the two struggled.
Gordon, who’s originally from Jamaica, was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother told nj.com he was studying chemistry at Dutchess Community College in New York, and his sister Yanique Gordon vouched for her brother Saturday.
“He was innocent,” she said. “He didn’t do drugs. He didn’t hang out with the wrong crowd... He did not come all the way from Jamaica to die at the hands of someone else.”
Gordon’s friend had similarly described him to dispatchers, although it’s unclear if officers who interacted with Gordon the day of his death knew about the call.
“What’s going to happen to him,” Gordon’s friend had asked. The dispatcher responded: “Well, we’re going to look for him and try to get him some help.”