Al-Tariq Jacobs

Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.^[1]

Name as recorded

Al-Tariq Jacobs

Age as recorded

42

Gender as recorded

Male

Race as reported

African-American/Black

Date of the injury resulting in death

December 16, 2005

Location as recorded

Belleville, Essex County43 Wilson Place Belleville NJ 07109 Essex

Highest level of force as recorded

Drug overdose

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Belleville Police Department

An agency appears here because it appears in the record's as-reported agency field, nothing more. Its presence is not a claim of fault or responsibility.

Fatal Encounters' description of the incident, verbatim. This is the source project's own third-party narrative, not this site's reporting.

Al-Tariq Jacobs was arrested after two neighbors complained that he had assaulted them and was trying to burglarize their Wilson Place apartment. When police arrived at the apartment building about 10 p.m., they found Jacobs trying to break down the neighbors' door. Jacobs charged at the officers, who put him in handcuffs. They patted him down and found a steak knife in his pants. The officers put Jacobs in a squad car and were driving back to police headquarters when he became unresponsive and died.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IkzVlzo1b9a-WhmBKXkuuYausAsYWzfearv-t_R2aqY/edit?usp=sharing (external link, as recorded in the dataset).

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Al-Tariq Jacobs died on December 16, 2005 in Belleville, Essex County, with "Drug overdose" as the highest level of force. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced dataset of deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind; a record is not a finding of fault or misconduct.

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Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?

The record's agency field reads "Belleville Police Department". Presence in that field means the agency appears in the record as reported, nothing more; it is not a claim of fault or responsibility by any officer or agency.

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Where did this happen?

The record places the death in Belleville, Essex County, on December 16, 2005. The address as recorded is 43 Wilson Place Belleville NJ 07109 Essex.

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Does this record mean police caused or were at fault for this death?

No. Fatal Encounters documented deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits and crashes, suicides that occurred in police presence, and medical emergencies. This record documents that a death occurred during an encounter; it is not a finding of fault, misconduct, or wrongdoing, and it has no connection to the discipline records elsewhere on this site.

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