NJ cop hit with criminal charges: Tasered ATV rider who broke his back

CHESILHURST — A borough police officer has been charged with using his stun gun on a 23-year-old man who was on a moving ATV, causing a crash that seriously injured the man.

Officer Tyquan McIntosh, 28, was charged on Monday with third-degree aggravated assault stemming from the incident last summer, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Wednesday.

McIntosh, a resident of the Minotola section of Buena, had been approaching the unregistered all-terrain vehicle while on patrol around 11 p.m. on Aug. 12.

It had stalled and McIntosh got out of his vehicle and walked closer, Grewal said.

The man then restarted the ATV and began riding away, at which point McIntosh fired his department-issued Axon X2 Taser at the man, causing the ATV to flip and crash, according to the attorney general.

The 23-year-old rider, whose identity has not been made public, was treated for broken his vertebra and collar bone and a concussion at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Authorities did not say Wednesday whether the rider was charged with any crimes or offenses.

Statewide policies at the time prohibited an officer from discharging a Taser against someone operating any moving vehicle, unless use of deadly force in the given situation would be authorized.