Here is the article from the Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-6/114473790794780.xml?starledger?ntop&coll=1Emil Mann, the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation member who was shot and critically injured during an altercation with a State Park Police officer on Bergen County parkland earlier this month, has died.
The 44-year-old father of three from Monroe, N.Y., was pronounced dead at 12:15 p.m. yesterday at Hackensack University Medical Center, Bergen County First Assistant Prosecutor William J. Galda said.
An autopsy is scheduled for today.
"It's just been a horrific tragedy," said Steven Scheffers, an attorney for the Mann family. "There was a sign of improvement. But I guess the severity of the wounds (was) too much for him."
Mann was shot in the chest and leg during the confrontation April 1 with park Officer Chad Walder on an abandoned goat farm in Mahwah.
Authorities said Walder and three other park officers were patrolling the borough's Stag Hill area when they stopped Emil Mann's cousin, Otis, for riding an all-terrain vehicle in a prohibited area. A confrontation quickly erupted.
As Otis Mann tussled with two of the officers, Walder ran to help his colleagues, but encountered Emil Mann, authorities said. That confrontation ended with Walder shooting Emil Mann. Walder had charged Emil Mann with trying to take his gun.
No charges have been filed against Walder, whose attorney said the officer fired in self-defense.
The shooting and the events leading up to it have sparked allegations of wrongdoing on all sides. Mahwah and Bergen County authorities have criticized the park officers for improperly going out of their jurisdiction and for failing to notify local police that they were in the area. Authorities said witnesses have been reluctant to come forward.
Members of the Ramapough tribe have questioned why lethal force was used in a confrontation over ATVs. Some tribe members said Lt. Kelly Gottheiner slapped and pepper-sprayed Otis Mann's 14-year-old daughter. Otis Mann, coming to the girl's defense, grabbed Gottheiner's baton and struggled with her, but was stopped, they said.
Otis Mann was charged with assaulting Gottheiner and has been released on bail.
Meanwhile, about 150 members of the Ramapough tribe attended a meeting at a community center in Mahwah last night during which tribal Chief Anthony Van Dunk told them Emil Mann had died and updated them on the situation.
Van Dunk said he met earlier in the day with representatives from the state Attorney General's Office and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, as well as with Mahwah's police chief and mayor and about seven attorneys.
The Attorney General's Office is investigating the actions of the four park officers, who remain on paid leave from their jobs with the Department of Environmental Protection. The prosecutor's office is conducting the criminal probe.
Van Dunk said the tribe has hired a law firm and encouraged any witnesses to the incidents April 1 to come forward. The chief also urged the Ramapough community to develop a list of witnesses he could bring to the attorneys.
To create a comfort level for people who want to come forward, attorneys will be present when those witnesses talk to police, he said.
"It's a tough day. It's a tough week," Van Dunk said. "... It's something I hope no one else will ever have to go through."
One tribe member stormed out of the meeting after about a half-hour.
"Enough is enough," said Rodney Van Dunk, a cousin of the chief's. "They're in there talking about taking time to wait and see what's going on ... You have someone being shot three times like a bear. You don't shoot someone three times to warn him."
Rodney Van Dunk was wearing a blue T-shirt that had the names of Emil and Otis Mann on front and a picture of the scales of justice and the words "WE WANT JUSTICE" on the back.
Scheffers said the Mann family wants the "truth told."
"There are very differing accounts from what the authorities have said thus far and what the tribe members have said," Scheffers said.
Emil Mann, who worked for the Ramapo public works department, is survived by a wife and three sons, ages 18, 15 and 8.
Scheffers said the Mann family disputes the charges that Walder filed against Emil Mann last week -- assaulting a police officer, hindering arrest and trying to take Walder's weapon.
Walder's attorney, Robert Galantucci, said he was "sorry" to learn of Mann's death but continued to maintain that Walder fired in self-defense.
"I know that the officer joins me in being very sorry that Mr. Mann lost his life," Galantucci said.
