Clifford Cook

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

Name as recorded

Clifford Cook

Age as recorded

49

Gender as recorded

Male

Race as reported

African-American/Black

Date of the injury resulting in death

April 11, 2009

Location as recorded

Newark, Essex County31 Green St Newark NJ 07102 Essex

Highest level of force as recorded

Medical emergency

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Newark 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.

From an ACLU lawsuit: Clifford Cook was arrested by Newark Police while recuperating from surgery. The officers took him to the police headquarters on Green Street. During his time in custody, the officers ignored his cries for medical help. When he became silent, officers took him to UNDMJ hospital, where he was pronounced dead on April 11, 2009, at 9:50 am.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://nj-arrest-related-deaths.herokuapp.com/posts/clifford-cook (external link, as recorded in the dataset).

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Clifford Cook died on April 11, 2009 in Newark, Essex County, with "Medical emergency" 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 "Newark 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 Newark, Essex County, on April 11, 2009. The address as recorded is 31 Green St Newark NJ 07102 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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