The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has identified the armed Texas man who died after a fatal fall in Guttenberg, as well as the police officer who pursued him, one week after announcing they were investigating the incident.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
At approximately 11:02 p.m. on November 12th, officers from the Guttenberg Police Department responded to 68th Street and Bellevue Avenue after a 911 call was received reporting a disturbance, the AG’s Office said in a statement.
Officers were provided with a description of the individuals involved in the reported disturbance, including that an individual, later identified as Brandon Lee Ortega, 26, of Mexia, Texas, was armed with a gun, according to the preliminary investigation.
Guttenberg Police Officer Brandon Sauerwald located Ortega in the area of 7000 John F. Kennedy Blvd. East and, after a foot chase, Ortega climbed over a railing adjacent to the building and fell to his death over an embankment.
Fire department and EMS personnel responded and Ortega was pronounced dead at the scene before a gun was recovered from him at the crime scene.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
Sauerwald was sworn in a probationary police officer in September 2022.
A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody.
This requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.
