Stephen Cogelia

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

Name as recorded

Stephen Cogelia

Age as recorded

32

Gender as recorded

Male

Race as reported

European-American/White

Date of the injury resulting in death

June 12, 2018

Location as recorded

Hardwick, Warren County40 block Sunset Lake Rd Hardwick NJ 07825 Warren

Highest level of force as recorded

Gunshot

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.

Fatal Encounters' description of the incident, verbatim. This is the source project's own third-party narrative, not this site's reporting.

Stephen Cogelia had been asked by his father to leave the residence. Cogelia had made threats that he would kill his father and other occupants of the home. The father went to the state police barracks to report the threats and obtain a temporary restraining order against his son. While the father was at the barracks, a relative called to report that Cogelia had returned to the Sunset Lake Road home and was making additional threats. Five troopers went upstairs to the second floor of the home, and after opening the door of a bedroom, encountered Cogelia who was armed with a hunting knife. He was shot and killed.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://www.njherald.com/news/20191230/state-trooper-justified-in-fatal-shooting-of-hardwick-man (external link, as recorded in the dataset).

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Stephen Cogelia died on June 12, 2018 in Hardwick, Warren 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.

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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.

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Where did this happen?

The record places the death in Hardwick, Warren County, on June 12, 2018. The address as recorded is 40 block Sunset Lake Rd Hardwick NJ 07825 Warren.

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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.

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