Prosecutor faults park police in shooting of tribal member

Officers were unjustified in leaving state land, he says

By Ana M. Alaya/Brian T. Murray
Star-Ledger Staff

A "major, major systemic breakdown" within the ranks of the State Park Police culminated in one of their officers shooting a citizen on county-owned land in Mahwah last weekend, the Bergen County prosecutor said yesterday.

Prosecutor John Molinelli said the officers were not justified in leaving state property and should have informed local police when they moved into their jurisdiction. But he stopped short of charging them with any infractions and asked Lisa Jackson, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, to investigate. The 100-member park police force is part of the DEP's Division of Parks and Forestry.

Emil Mann of Monroe, N.Y., a 44-year-old member of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation, was critically wounded Saturday after a confrontation in the woods with three members of the State Park Police.

Authorities have identified the shooter as Chad Walder, a 34-year-old rookie park police officer and former juvenile corrections officer. Walder, a Coast Guard reservist, was on active duty after 9/11, serving at Sandy Hook from Sept. 14, 2001, until Sept. 5, 2003.

The shooting, in a remote area inaccessible by car, has served to underscore the isolation and alienation of the Ramapough people, who maintain a distinct lifestyle within the rapidly suburbanizing township of Mahwah, in northernmost Bergen County. They have lived in their own settlement for more than 200 years.

Several dozen members of the tribe were in the vicinity of the shooting scene, a long-abandoned goat farm often used for tribal recreation, but have not come forward as eyewitnesses, authorities say.

Although authorities believed the officers pursued Mann and possibly others because they were riding all-terrain vehicles in an area where ATVs are prohibited, the provocation for the resulting fracas and shooting remains unclear. A cousin of the wounded man, Otis Mann, was arrested on aggravated assault charges at the scene.

Emil Mann, who was shot in the chest and leg, remained in critical condition last night at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Meanwhile, Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli said yesterday that he's learned of another incident that may have influenced events. Earlier Saturday, two of the officers who pursued Emil Mann arrested a different tribe member for wearing a holstered pistol, he said.

"Whether that played into the state of mind of the residents and police officers is for someone else to determine," Batelli said. "I'm sure that the word got out."

Like Molinelli, the police chief was critical of the park police.

Mahwah police enjoy a rapport with the Ramapough tribe, he said, and understand their strong ties to the land. When park police pursued tribal members, without notifying his force, they "jeopardized the safety of everyone," Batelli said.

"You're dealing with a culture, a group that believes in keeping problems to themselves," he said. "Some referred to the officers as outsiders coming into their area."

Still, Batelli conceded that the officers may not have known whose land they were on.

"There are various signs, although the signs are very frequently shot up and torn down," he said. "When the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office went back there to process the crime scene, there were literally hundreds if not thousands of rounds of every caliber on the ground."

Besides Walder, other officers in the vicinity of the shooting were Lt. Kelly Gottheiner and Officer Kenneth Kriete, authorities say. Walder's wife, Lorna, a park police officer, was also in the vicinity, authorities said. All four were stationed at nearby Ringwood State Park; Gottheiner was the superior officer of the group.

The four are now on paid leave, said Elaine Makatura, spokeswoman for the DEP. Chad Walder, who earns $54,131 a year, joined the DEP in May 2005 after a seven-year stint in the state juvenile corrections field.

Yesterday the two Ramapough tribe members arrested over the weekend made appearances in Mahwah Municipal Court before Judge Anthony Gianni.

Otis Mann came first, appearing in handcuffs and a prison jumpsuit. As his wife and daughter sobbed audibly in the courtroom, his lawyer, Steven Schefers of Hawthorne, entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of his client. The daughter, Kaitlin Mann, 17, wore a T-shirt with the words "Let Otis Go."

Gianni scheduled a bail reduction hearing for tomorrow. Otis Mann remains jailed on $100,000 bail.

Then came Harold Dennison Jr., the man arrested for allegedly wearing a pistol on his hip. He was released Saturday on a recognizance bond of $10,000 and walked into the hearing yesterday on his own. He contested the allegations against him.

According to court documents, the park police officers who arrested Dennison were Kriete and Chad Walder.

After the hearing, Anthony Van Dunk, the Ramapoughs' tribal leader, expressed confidence in the Bergen County prosecutor.

"We feel (he) is going to use everything in his power to find out the truth of the situation," Van Dunk said.

Van Dunk has said witnesses to the shooting told him Gottheiner slapped and pepper-sprayed Otis Mann's daughter, prompting the father to grab Gottheiner's baton and attack the officers. While some of the ATV riders left, Emil Mann stayed to break up the fight and was shot, he said.

But the prosecutor's office supplied a different account: Molinelli said Gottheiner stopped Otis Mann as he was riding his ATV and an argument ensued; Mann grabbed Gottheiner's baton and tried to attack her. Emil Mann's shooting was a separate incident in the same vicinity, the prosecutor said.

Staff writer Mary Jo Patterson contributed to this report.