NEW BRUNSWICK —A 24-year-old man whose father was fatally shot by New Brunswick police in September was arrested early Thursday when the driver of the car he was riding in fled from police after a shooting, then crashed a short distance away, authorities said.

Barry Deloatch Jr. — whose father was killed by police during a patrol stop — and Anthony McLaughlin, 21, were both charged with unlawful possession of a weapon when a handgun was recovered from the car after the 2:30 a.m. crash on Route 27 in New Brunswick, Rutgers University Police Chief Rhonda Harris said. A campus police officer had pursued the fleeing vehicle, along with city police.

Neither Deloatch, of Piscataway, nor McLaughlin, of North Brunswick, are charged in the shooting that left a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the midsection, authorities said. The man, who was not identified, was in stable condition at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. A second man was beaten in the same incident, and was treated for injuries and released, police said.

It was not known whether the gun recovered in the vehicle was the same one used in the shooting.

Deloatch was taken to Robert Wood Johnson hospital where he underwent surgery for internal injuries as a result of the crash. He is also charged with obstructing the administration of law, police said. McLaughlin, who was driving the car, sustained minor injuries. He was also charged with hindering and a separate weapons offense because he is a convicted felon, police said.

Deloatch’s father, 46-year-old Barry Deloatch, was unarmed when he was fatally shot and killed by New Brunswick police on Sept. 22. That encounter began as a routine patrol stop but escalated when Deloatch fled into an alley then scuffled with officers, authorities have said. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office is still investigating.

Bennie Deloatch, a brother of the deceased man, called the incident involving his nephew "troubling," but would not comment further because he didn’t know all the details. Bennie Deloatch has spoken out against the New Brunswick police after his brother’s death.

In Thursday’s incident, Deloatch Jr.’s vehicle sped away from the scene of the shooting near Condict Street and Easton Avenue as Rutgers Police Officer Brian Ruditsky was arriving, Harris said. Ruditsky chased the fleeing vehicle after witnesses pointed to it just after the shooting, Harris said. McLaughlin stopped the vehicle for a moment then sped off with police in pursuit, before hitting a curb and flipping over about a mile away, Harris said.

Another man was hit by gunfire an hour later, the 10th shooting in New Brunswick in the last several weeks, authorities said. That man, 24, who was grazed in the head, was treated and released. City police Sgt. Mark Pappas said the department is investigating whether any of the shootings are related.



By Tom Haydon and Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger

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