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Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset

Johnny Mitchell

November 19, 2017 · Springfield Township, Union County

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded
Johnny Mitchell
Age as recorded
46
Gender as recorded
Male
Race as reported
Race unspecified
Date of the injury resulting in death
November 19, 2017
Location as recorded
Springfield Township, Union County65 Springfield Ave Springfield Township NJ 07081 Union
Highest level of force as recorded
Vehicle

Where the dataset places it

The location Fatal Encounters recorded for this death: Springfield Township, Union County

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: Union Township 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)

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.

A suspected Target shoplifter, Johnny Mitchell, was killed after he tried to bite a police officer and fled in a stolen car, which burst into flames when it crashed into a medical building during the chase, police said.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2017/11/man_dies_in_crash_after_fleeing_cops.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 24 it holds for Union County across 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.

Records from the same county and year

Questions and answers

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Johnny Mitchell died on November 19, 2017 in Springfield Township, Union 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 "Union Township 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 Springfield Township, Union County, on November 19, 2017. The address as recorded is 65 Springfield Ave Springfield Township NJ 07081 Union.

Sources

  1. [1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 7950. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩