AG’s Office Releases Video and 911 Call from Fatal Woodbridge
January 6, 2026, 2:03 pm | in
UPDATE: AG’s Office Releases Video and 911 Call from Fatal Woodbridge
Crash on July 6, 2025
TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today released mobile video recorder and surveillance footage as well as a 911 call relating to a fatal motor vehicle crash that occurred on July 6, 2025, in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The decedent, Joseph E. Acevedo-Rodriquez, 26, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was involved in the fatal accident following an attempted motor vehicle stop by Perth Amboy Police Lieutenant Jose M. Pais.
This law enforcement encounter is under investigation by OPIA. The footage is being released pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters. Investigators previously met with representatives of Mr. Acevedo-Rodriquez’s family to review the recordings.
According to the preliminary investigation, at approximately 12:05 a.m., three individuals were operating motorized scooters in the area of State Street and High Street in Perth Amboy when Lieutenant Pais, who was driving a marked police vehicle, attempted to conduct a motor vehicle stop of the group.
Lieutenant Pais activated his overhead lights and siren. Two of the three moped riders continued driving and left the scene. At first, the third individual, Mr. Acevedo-Rodriguez, pulled over on the shoulder of State Street, before accelerating and driving away at a high speed northbound.
Lieutenant Pais followed the moped until the vehicles crossed the border into Woodbridge. The lieutenant deactivated his vehicle’s lights and sirens and made a U-turn and returned to Perth Amboy. Shortly thereafter and approximately a quarter mile north on State Street, between Arbor Street and Ferry Street, Woodbridge police officers responded to a 911 call about a motor vehicle crash. Responding officers found Mr. Acevedo-Rodriguez lying in the road with the moped some distance away. Mr. Acevedo-Rodriguez was apparently involved in a one-vehicle crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
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.
Further information about how fatal police encounters are investigated in New Jersey under the Independent Prosecutor Directive can be found here:
