Thirty-three seconds.
It took just 33 seconds for a group of Fort Lee police officers to decide to break down the door of an apartment, agree on who among them would potentially take “lethal” and “less lethal” measures, and then break down the door and for one of them, Officer Tony Pickens Jr. toshoot and kill Victoria Lee, 25.
Borough police arrived at Lee’s residence at the Pinnacle on Main Street around 1:25 a.m. on July 28. They responded to a 911 call that Lee’s brother had placed because he was concerned that she was suffering a mental health crisis.
Lee’s brother, in audio released Friday by the office of New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, called dispatchers twice — once in hopes that an ambulance and medical first responders could aid his sister and again in an effort to cancel the call.
Dispatchers first told him police officers would accompany ambulance personnel for their safety. When he called back to cancel his request for help, he was told that mental health calls cannot be canceled. In the second call, Lee’s brother tells the dispatcher that his sister was holding a knife.
Victoria Lee's death captured in disturbing body cam video
Body camera footage of the fatal episode — presumably captured by Pickens’ recording device — was released alongside the audio. The scene, a portion of which was published by NorthJersey.com, is disturbing.
Lee’s brother stands outside the apartment door with the group of responding officers, pleading with his sister — inside the apartment with their mother — to open the door. An officer amplifies this request, threatening to break down the door.
"Go ahead, I will stab you in the f****** neck," one of the women responds.
“We don’t want to shoot you, we want to help you,” one of the officers replies.
Lee is escorted away from the apartment door as officers decide who would take “lethal” or “less lethal” actions.
Watch:State releases bodycam footage of police officer who shot woman in Fort Lee
Pickens takes the lead on breaking the door down and, after he succeeded, Lee can be seen holding a water jug and standing with her mother.
“Drop the knife,” officers yell.
Lee moves forward, holding the water jug. Pickens fires. She falls.
The consequences are immediately understood by all to be dire.
Lee was shot in the chest and officers quickly moved to help her. She was transported to Englewood Hospital and pronounced dead at 1:58 a.m.
Can New Jersey tolerate another police-involved shooting of a person in crisis? No.
Victoria Lee’s death from a gunshot fired by a Fort Lee police officer once again raises significant questions about how and why police use lethal force when they are called on to respond to people suffering mental health crises.
In the weeks since her death, the Fort Lee community has struggled to find answers to those questions — even as Platkin’s office, as it always does in police-involved shootings, investigates the case.
On Thursday, members of the community gathered for a rally at the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center. Five gallon water jugs — like the one Lee was holding when she was fatally shot — were prominently on display.
"What happened to Victoria was wrong, unacceptable and unjust in every measure of these words," said Elise Tao, co-leader of Bergen County Students Demand Action. "A moment of crisis should be met with compassion and de-escalation, not deadly force. So, tell me, why is that so hard to understand?"
Breakdown:Fort Lee police shooting body cam footage analyzed, minute by minute
Why is it so hard to understand, Mr. Attorney General?
Why must we ask these questions again?
Again, after Najee Seabrooks. Again, after Jameek Lowery. Again, after Andew Washington. Again, after Major Gulia Dale. And now, after Victoria Lee.
Why can’t we move faster to find new and smarter ways for New Jersey police to respond to calls for help for the mentally ill?
Should police be involved in responding to mental health crises responses? How can they do so without use of lethal force?
Some solutions to the problems posed in these questions could be found in a more rapid deployment of resources allotted to Platkin’s office through the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act, signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in January. Among other things, the legislation funds pilots for community-led crisis response teams. Those pilots are under way in four of our cities: Paterson, Newark, Trenton and Camden. Funding for programs has also been earmarked for Jersey and City and Middlesex County, but, as of last month, non-profit partner agencies in those communities had yet to come forward to lead efforts to stand up crisis response teams.
The Seabrooks-Washington act also created an advisory council that was to meet 45 days after Murphy signed the bill on Jan. 12. As of last month, Gov. Phil Murphy had not appointed designees to the council and, as such, the council had yet to convene. The Murphy administration should move to seat this council with speed.
ARRIVE Together, the Attorney General's program that trains plainclothes law enforcement officials in crisis intervention, also deserves new and expanded attention. ARRIVE Together demonstrated commendable results in reduced use of force, arrests and racial disparities in policing, and increased the use of social services, according to a Brookings Institution study that observed pilot programs in Cumberland County, Elizabeth and Linden between 2021 and 2023. Lawmakers in Trenton should move to fund this program's expansion.
Mr. Attorney General, we called for and applauded your needed takeover of the Paterson Police Department. That effort remains a work in progress but deserves credit in a number of areas — including its speed.
Speed is needed here, too.
Victoria Lee's death demonstrates a fact with clarity: New Jersey cannot — and should not — abide more police-involved shootings of people suffering from mental health crises.
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