John R. Hagerty 609-984-1936

Trenton - Attorney General Peter C. Harvey today announced that a convicted felon and fugitive from justice involved in the Oct. 1, 2004 police shooting incident that occurred at the Airport Motel in South Hackensack, Bergen County, has been charged by the Division of Criminal Justice with weapons violations.

According to Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice, Thomas G. Sparks, a/k/a Garfield Thomas Sparks, 33, 13 Plesinger Place (last known address), Paterson, Passaic County, was charged via a State Grand Jury indictment with possessing a weapon by a convicted person. The indictment charges that Sparks, convicted of first degree aggravated manslaughter on Nov. 20, 1989, was in possession of an illegal handgun when he encountered detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police at the Airport Motel, 636 Huyler St., South Hackensack, on Oct. 1. The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team recovered a .357 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun from under a vehicle parked in the motel parking lot. Sparks had been released from state prison in July, 2000, after serving 11 years of a 20-year term. In 2003, Sparks was charged via a Passaic County Grand Jury indictment with aggravated sexual assault. Sparks failed to appear for an August, 2004 court listing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. The investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team determined that Sparks was also wanted on a North Carolina fugitive warrant which charged kidnaping and armed robbery. Sparks remains incarcerated in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail.

As a result of the Oct. 1 police encounter at the Airport Motel, suspect Gregory Davis, 49, East 23rd Street, Paterson, was shot and killed after resisting arrest by responding law enforcement officers. Davis, previously convicted of robbery and on state parole at the time of the shooting, was in possession of a .380 caliber handgun at the time of the Oct. 1 shooting. A third individual involved in the incident was identified as Janet Atkinson, 129 Eagle Ave., New Milford, Bergen County.

The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team identified the detectives and police officers who responded to the Airport Motel on Oct. 1 as Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Det. Daniel Lee, New Jersey State Police Det. Moises Hernandez, Det. Robert Kaiser, South Hackensack Police Department and uniformed police officers Dominic Mea and Carmine Maceri of the South Hackensack Police Department.

The shooting incident remains under investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team. Under an Attorney General directive, the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team, made up of Deputy Attorney’s General and state investigators from the Division of Criminal Justice and detectives from the State Police Major Crime Unit, are dispatched to the scene to conduct the investigation. The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team also receives investigative and administrative support from county prosecutor’s offices.

The State Grand Jury indictment was handed-up to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Neil H. Shuster on Dec. 17. The case has been assigned to the Bergen County Superior Court for trial. Deputy Attorney General Jennifer L. Gottschalk of the Division of Criminal Justice presented the case to the State Grand Jury.

Additional information, including a copy of the State Grand Jury indictment, is available by logging on to the Division of Criminal Justice web page at www.njdcj.org.

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