Vincent "Woody" McConnell

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

Name as recorded

Vincent "Woody" McConnell

Age as recorded

16

Gender as recorded

Male

Race as reported

Race unspecified

Date of the injury resulting in death

October 5, 2004

Location as recorded

Hoboken, Hudson County1 Hudson Pl Hoboken NJ 07030 Hudson

Highest level of force as recorded

Drowned

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Hoboken 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.

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

While at the police station early Tuesday afternoon, the teen asked to go to the bathroom, and his handcuffs were removed. McConnell was allowed to use a private bathroom instead of the secure one in the holding cell. While in the bathroom, he unscrewed the security gate over the window, climbed out, and ran south down Court Street while police pursued on foot, cars, and motorcycles, police said. He ran through the Hoboken Train Terminal to the south side of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station. There, according to police, he climbed over the rail, where he stood for a moment. Police said they pleaded for the teen not to jump. They said he yelled "I'm not going back to jail. As he fell, police tried to grab him, but according to police reports, he pushed them away. McConnell could not swim and quickly went underneath the surface of the water. According to police, one officer took off his belt and lowered it to the teen, but he couldn't grab it. Mayor David Roberts said that no officer jumped in after McConnell because of concerns about the swift Hudson currents and undertow. He drowned.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2400929/article-Tragedy-on-the-Hudson-Teen-drowns-after-escaping-from-police-custody (external link, as recorded in the dataset).

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that Vincent "Woody" McConnell died on October 5, 2004 in Hoboken, Hudson County, with "Drowned" 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 "Hoboken 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.

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Where did this happen?

The record places the death in Hoboken, Hudson County, on October 5, 2004. The address as recorded is 1 Hudson Pl Hoboken NJ 07030 Hudson.

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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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