A police officer in New Jersey shot himself in the head as rescuers prepared to pull him from his crashed car, officials said Monday.
The unidentified 39-year-old officer with the Roselle police department was off-duty when he crashed his vehicle into two parked cars in Matawan on Sunday, acccording to Chris Swendeman, a spokesperson for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The officer lost control of his car around noon on Broad St. near Church St., officials said. He slammed into two parked vehicles before partially rolling his car.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene, authorities said, and when they went to get equipment in order to extract the driver from the car, he retrieved a gun and shot himself in the head.
“There’s always danger out there but these are the deaths that are hard because somehow we missed this guy and didn’t get him help,” New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association president Parick Colligan told New Jersey 101.5.
