The prosecutor in the New Jersey county where a police officer fatally shot his ex-wife last week as their young daughter watched says his office will be conducting the internal affairs review of the responding police officers' actions at the scene.
Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said he has informed the police chiefs of the Asbury Park and Neptune Township police departments that his office will be investigating how their officers reacted when off-duty Neptune Township Sgt. Phillip Seidle, 51, chased after ex-wife Tamara Seidle in his vehicle, fired shots into her car and then held a gun to his head as he kept police at bay.
“In order to clearly understand every aspect of this response, every sworn law enforcement officer involved in the incident will be part and parcel of this Internal Affairs review and evaluation," Gramiccioni said in a statement.
The incident raised questions over why responding officers didn't fire their weapons at Seidle as he shot at his ex-wife. Law enforcement experts have said that police would have been justified in using deadly force against Seidle to stop him from repeatedly shooting Tamara Seidle, according to the Asbury Park Press.
It's possible that officers were less assertive with the sergeant because they knew him and thought they could coax him into surrendering without any further violence, a former Newark police captain and associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice told the newspaper.
"If you've got a rapport already because you know them, or a you have a working relationship or something, you would rather talk them into surrendering rather than use force," Jon Shane said.
Seidle was charged with murder, child endangerment and a weapons offense. He remains in jail on $2 million cash bond after a judge refused last week to lower his bail and ordered him to have no contact with his nine children or Tamara Seidle's family.
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Seidle was off-duty when he fired several shots into a car driven by Tamara Seidle, and then put the gun to his head and started pacing as authorities got the couple's daughter out of his car, prosecutors said. Phillip Seidle then fired several more shots through the front windshield of his wife's vehicle, prosecutors said.
He held the gun to his head and kept police at bay for nearly 30 minutes before he surrendered, prosecutors said.
Tamara Seidle was taken to a hospital, where she died a short time later. No other injuries were reported in the shooting.
She was laid to rest Monday.
Seidle has served on the Neptune force for 22 years. The couple's divorce was finalized late last month, and authorities said the shooting apparently was spurred by an ongoing child custody dispute. Their children range in age from 7 to 24.
In her divorce complaint, Tamara Seidle claimed her husband physically abused her. She said there was no documentation of the incidents but that there was "police intervention."
Police officers in the neighborhood for an unrelated traffic accident saw the shooting unfold. When asked why the officers did not try to stop Seidle, prosecutors said that was under investigation.
Michael Terrell, who witnessed the shooting, told the Asbury Park Press that Seidle was yelling at his ex-wife about their child custody fights.
"The guy was in the middle of the street," Terrell told the newspaper. "He was saying, 'I'm tired of going to court.'"
Seidle then raised his gun, firing multiple shots at the woman, Terrell said.
"It was shocking," Terrell said.
