What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that a person whose name police withheld died on August 24, 2018 in Closter, Bergen 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 "Closter 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 Closter, Bergen County, on August 24, 2018. The address as recorded is Herbert Avenue Closter NJ 07624 Bergen.

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

Name withheld by police

August 24, 2018 · Closter, Bergen County

Fatal Encounters records that police withheld this person's name.

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded: Name withheld by police
Age as recorded: 23
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: Race unspecified
Date of the injury resulting in death: August 24, 2018
Location as recorded: Closter, Bergen CountyHerbert Avenue Closter NJ 07624 Bergen
Highest level of force as recorded: Vehicle

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Closter 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)

Closter 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.

An unmarked police vehicle attempted to stop a speeding 2017 Yamaha FZ1 motorcycle. The officer reportedly stopped a chase near Homans Avenue due to the unsafe speed of the motorcycle. At 7:52 p.m., the motorcycle crashed into the driver's side of a 2017 Infiniti QX6 as it was making a left turn into a driveway, killing the motorcycle driver.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/closter/2018/08/27/motorcyclist-killed-closter-nj-crash/1092602002/ (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 a person whose name police withheld died on August 24, 2018 in Closter, Bergen 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 "Closter 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 Closter, Bergen County, on August 24, 2018. The address as recorded is Herbert Avenue Closter NJ 07624 Bergen.
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 6536. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩