What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Timothy J. Harden died on September 5, 2015 in Freehold Township, Monmouth County, with "Asphyxiated/Restrained" 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 "Howell 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 Freehold Township, Monmouth County, on September 5, 2015. The address as recorded is 1017 NJ-33 Freehold Township NJ 07728 Monmouth.

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

Timothy J. Harden

September 5, 2015 · Freehold Township, Monmouth County

Details as recorded

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

Name as recorded: Timothy J. Harden
Age as recorded: 38
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: European-American/White
Date of the injury resulting in death: September 5, 2015
Location as recorded: Freehold Township, Monmouth County1017 NJ-33 Freehold Township NJ 07728 Monmouth
Highest level of force as recorded: Asphyxiated/Restrained

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Howell 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)

Howell Township 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.

Howell police were called to respond to a disorderly person at the festival, which was hosted at the New Jersey Latvian Society's center. When police arrived, the guards handed Harden over to them. Those officers, who have not been identified, were the last to see Harden alive, according to Mallon and Griffin Security LLC. According to the suit, at some point after he was turned over to police, Harden was choked to death. Exactly what transpired in Harden's final moments is unclear.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2016/03/cops_not_responsible_for_death_of_man_at_music_fes.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 Timothy J. Harden died on September 5, 2015 in Freehold Township, Monmouth County, with "Asphyxiated/Restrained" 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 "Howell 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 Freehold Township, Monmouth County, on September 5, 2015. The address as recorded is 1017 NJ-33 Freehold Township NJ 07728 Monmouth.
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 11670. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩