What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Curtis E. Good died on August 20, 2004 in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, with "Gunshot" 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.

Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?

The record's agency field reads "Perth Amboy 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.

Where did this happen?

The record places the death in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, on August 20, 2004. The address as recorded is King Street and Smith Street Perth Amboy NJ 08861 Middlesex.

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.

Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset

Curtis E. Good

August 20, 2004 · Perth Amboy, Middlesex County

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded: Curtis E. Good
Age as recorded: 41
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: African-American/Black
Date of the injury resulting in death: August 20, 2004
Location as recorded: Perth Amboy, Middlesex CountyKing Street and Smith Street Perth Amboy NJ 08861 Middlesex
Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Perth Amboy 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.

Department pages (matched by this site at high confidence)

Perth Amboy Police Department

The source's account

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

Police were called to Good's apartment at about 1:30 a.m. to find him ranting, under the influence of cocaine, tearing out pieces of the wall with his bare hands. Good charged the single officer, who shot eight bullets at him. Six hit and fatally wounded him. Good's family members collected a $1.35M settlement.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/perth_amboy_pays_135_million_t.html (external link, as recorded in the dataset).

If you are a family member of the person named here, or represent one, and something in this record is wrong, or you want the record removed, requests go through the corrections page. Every request is checked against the source record.

This record is one of the dataset's New Jersey entries from 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.

Questions and answers

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?: Fatal Encounters records that Curtis E. Good died on August 20, 2004 in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, with "Gunshot" 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.
Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?: The record's agency field reads "Perth Amboy 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.
Where did this happen?: The record places the death in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, on August 20, 2004. The address as recorded is King Street and Smith Street Perth Amboy NJ 08861 Middlesex.
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.

Sources

[1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 27001. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩