Relatives demand answers in New Jersey Park Police Shooting of Native American Man

Anger over the police shooting of Emil Mann deep in the woods of northern New Jersey escalated yesterday as relatives and fellow Ramapough Indians kept pressing authorities to explain why a weekend cookout ended with gunfire. The 41-year-old Blooming Grove man remained in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center. Prosecutors say Otis Mann, 42, who lives in Blooming Grove, scuffled with a state park police officer, took her baton, then used it to menace her and another park police officer.The exact progression of events that resulted in the shooting is unclear. But witnesses to the incident say Otis Mann grabbed Gottheiner's baton after she slapped his 14-year-old daughter following an argument at the cookout site, according to a report yesterday The Record of Hackensack. Emil Mann is reported to have tried to break up the ensuing altercation, The Record also said. Emil Mann is not reported to have been armed. The Ramapough Mountain Indians trace their roots to the Lenape Nation. [more] and [more]