What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Joseph Pierce died on November 22, 2007 in Cherry Hill, Camden 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.

Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?

The record's agency field reads "Cherry Hill 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 Cherry Hill, Camden County, on November 22, 2007. The address as recorded is 2201 West Chapel Avenue Cherry Hill NJ 08002 Camden.

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

Joseph Pierce

November 22, 2007 · Cherry Hill, Camden County

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded: Joseph Pierce
Age as recorded: 43
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: European-American/White
Date of the injury resulting in death: November 22, 2007
Location as recorded: Cherry Hill, Camden County2201 West Chapel Avenue Cherry Hill NJ 08002 Camden
Highest level of force as recorded: Medical emergency

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Cherry Hill 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)

Cherry Hill 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 responded to report of fight at Cherry Hill Diner. Joseph Pierce was involved in a fight outside the Cherry Hill Diner and was eventually arrested by officers who responded to the scene after 3 a.m. His widow, Bobbie Lynn Pierce, claimed her husband didn't get medical attention until nearly an hour after the fight began and more than 30 minutes after police arrived on scene, despite being unresponsive after being brutally beaten and kicked in the head during the fight.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://cherryhill.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/suit-against-cherry-hill-police-over-maple-shade-mans-death-can-go-on-judge-rules (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 Joseph Pierce died on November 22, 2007 in Cherry Hill, Camden 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.
Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?: The record's agency field reads "Cherry Hill 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 Cherry Hill, Camden County, on November 22, 2007. The address as recorded is 2201 West Chapel Avenue Cherry Hill NJ 08002 Camden.
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 23047. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩