Cops did nothing wrong when N.J. man died in police custody, AG says (2024)

Investigators found no wrongdoing by officers in the case of a Salem County man who died in police custody in 2023, the state Attorney General’s office said.

Walter S. Zilinski Jr., 49, and others were taken into custody at his home in Pennsville Township on Feb. 10, 2023, after local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant, according to the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office.

The case involved alleged possession and distribution of drugs, including methamphetamine, and alleged possession of unlawful firearms and stolen property, officials said.

A former attorney for his family said Zilinski suffered breathing difficulties while in custody. He also alleged Zilinski was denied prompt medical care by police.

Investigators attributed his death to drugs he allegedly took at his residence before he was taken into custody.

“Autopsy results from the state medical examiner determined the cause of death to be amphetamine and methamphetamine intoxication,” the county prosecutor’s office said Monday. “Evidence suggests the decedent’s condition was caused by the ingestion of a fatal quantity of suspected methamphetamine.”

When the warrant was served, Zilinski’s wrists were zip-tied and he was forced to sit outside at his home in cold, windy weather for 2 1/2 hours while dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, attorney Jeffrey V. Puff wrote last year in a notice of intent to file a lawsuit against various agencies over the man’s death.

Zilinski was denied medical help when he began having trouble breathing at the Pennsville police station, the attorney said.

Linda Piel, Zilinski’s mother, said she has largely been kept in the dark by authorities about her son’s death, but said she has seen some police body camera footage of the incident.

“I know nothing,” she said. “I wasn’t even able to see his body.”

She’s also waiting for the return of personal possessions her son had with him when he died, including his phone, wallet and car keys, she said.

The Salem County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the man’s death and reported its findings to the state Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, known as OPIA, which closed the case earlier this month.

“OPIA concluded that no law enforcement officer had contributed to Mr. Zilinski’s in-custody death, therefore the matter was not presented to the state grand jury,” a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said.

The prosecutor’s office denied Zilinski’s family wasn’t updated about the case. Salem County Executive Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey J. Barile said the office provided Piel’s attorney with a “voluminous number of documents and videos related to Mr. Zilinski’s arrest and subsequent death.”

“Through her counsel, Ms. Piel was offered the opportunity to meet directly with representatives of the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office to review the information and videos, but declined to do so,” Barile said.

A Blackwood man arrested as a result of the warrant at Zilinski’s residence was charged with various offenses, including possession of stolen property, drug paraphernalia, guns, hollow-nose bullets and a large capacity ammunition magazine. But, Zilinski required medical attention before police had the chance to file charges against him, the prosecutor’s office said.

Zilinski began gasping for air and wheezing at the police station and some of those arrested with him yelled for help, but police took no action to assist, Puff stated in the tort notice about the family’s intent to file a lawsuit.

“A Pennsville Police Officer stated that Zilinski probably swallowed drugs or was faking in order to go to the hospital instead of prison,” Puff wrote.

Zilinski vomited and continued struggling to breathe until his skin turned gray, the attorney wrote. “It was too late when the officers called for an ambulance,” he added.

Responding EMTs failed to give Zilinski oxygen or an overdose antidote to save his life and failed to transport him to an emergency room in a timely manner before he was pronounced dead, Puff alleged.

The tort notice alleged civil rights violations, failure to act, failure to provide appropriate medical care and malpractice, and listed damages of $2 million.

Puff no longer represents the family, according to Piel, Zilinski’s mother. She is looking for a new lawyer to handle the case.

She questioned the conclusion that her son died of an overdose, noting authorities arrived at his residence in the early morning hours and she was told he died around 2 p.m. That meant he would not have had access to narcotics for hours before his death, she said.

While the family has not filed suit yet, she wants to take a closer look at body camera footage and any other evidence to see if a lawsuit is warranted, she said.

“We had an investigator who went through things in the beginning and said there definitely is a case,” Piel said. “I’m trying to be open-minded about it.”

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Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.