Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset
Devontae Troy Brooks
January 13, 2017 · Bridgeton, Cumberland County
Details as recorded
Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.[1]
- Name as recorded
- Devontae Troy Brooks
- Age as recorded
- 21
- Gender as recorded
- Male
- Race as reported
- African-American/Black
- Date of the injury resulting in death
- January 13, 2017
- Location as recorded
- Bridgeton, Cumberland CountyNJ-49 Bridgeton NJ 08302 Cumberland
- Highest level of force as recorded
- Vehicle
Where the dataset places it
The marked point is the dataset's own geocoded location for this record, as recorded. Every other New Jersey record in the dataset is shown in gray. A point on a map is where a death was recorded, not a finding about anyone.
Agencies as recorded
Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: New Jersey State Police
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)
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.
Bridgeton Police Department were looking for a Lincoln Continental involved in a crash earlier that evening where the car struck a police officer and drove off, according to police. A New Jersey State Police trooper tried to stop the Lincoln, but the car did not stop, which led to a short pursuit. The pursuit ended when the trooper lost sight of the Lincoln. Bridgeton police reported to State Police a short time later that the car was found crashed into a utility pole on Route 49 east near milepost 25.7. Police said the driver was traveling fast and attempting to turn when it ran off the road and slammed into the utility pole.
Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2017/01/man_fleeing_police_killed_after_crashing_into_util.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 is one of 36 New Jersey records the dataset dates to 2017, and one of 26 it holds for Cumberland County across 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.
Records from the same county and year
- Joseph P. Williams (2017) September 9, 2017
- Stephanie Myers (2017) September 9, 2017
- Darryl L. Fuqua (2017) February 10, 2017
Questions and answers
What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?
Fatal Encounters records that Devontae Troy Brooks died on January 13, 2017 in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, with "Vehicle" 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 "New Jersey State Police". 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 Bridgeton, Cumberland County, on January 13, 2017. The address as recorded is NJ-49 Bridgeton NJ 08302 Cumberland.
Sources
- [1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 9485. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩