As the decision was announced, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office also released body-worn camera footage from the Nov. 12, 2024 incident involving Brandon Lee Ortega, of Mexia, Texas. The video shows officers pursuing Ortega before realizing he had gone over a railing along JFK Boulevard overlooking the Palisades.
After reviewing the evidence, the grand jury concluded its deliberations on Monday, March 23, and voted “no bill,” meaning no charges will be filed against Guttenberg Police Officer Brandon Sauerwald, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The incident began around 11:02 p.m. when officers responded to 68th Street and Bellevue Avenue for a reported disturbance, when a property owner told police he had rented a room to a woman from California who never checked in, the AG said. Instead, two men and a woman with a dog tried to enter the property, the Attorney General’s Office said. When the owner denied entry, an argument broke out and one of the men, later identified as Ortega, displayed a blue firearm, according to investigators…