What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Leonard Todd Montague died on March 14, 2002 in East Orange, Essex 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 "East Orange 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 East Orange, Essex County, on March 14, 2002. The address as recorded is 2 University Place East Orange NJ 07018 Essex.

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

Leonard Todd Montague

March 14, 2002 · East Orange, Essex County

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded: Leonard Todd Montague
Age as recorded: 30
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: African-American/Black
Date of the injury resulting in death: March 14, 2002
Location as recorded: East Orange, Essex County2 University Place East Orange NJ 07018 Essex
Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: East Orange 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)

East Orange 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.

Patrolman Marco Rodriguez attempted to stop a vehicle. Police said Rodriguez saw Leonard Montague erratically driving a red and white 1990 Oldsmobile. After activating the patrol vehicle lights, Montague turned into the driveway of 2 University Place, and when he got out of the car, he attacked Rodriguez. Montague got Rodriguez in a chokehold and grabbed for the officer's weapon. Rodriguez shot and killed Montague.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.njecpo.org/Press/pr_129.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 Leonard Todd Montague died on March 14, 2002 in East Orange, Essex 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 "East Orange 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 East Orange, Essex County, on March 14, 2002. The address as recorded is 2 University Place East Orange NJ 07018 Essex.
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 29515. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩