Witness: Crockam Said He Shot Lakewood Officer

The woman who drove Jahmell Crockam to Camden on the day that a Lakewood police officer was killed said he admitted to pulling the trigger.

"That he shot a cop," said Danielle Bergamotto when asked by the prosecution what the defendant said as she drove him and two others to a Camden apartment that belonged to his friends.

"Did he say where on the officer he shot him?" asked William J. Heisler, chief assistant Ocean County prosecutor.

"In his head," Bergamotto responded. 

"Did he say what happened to the cop after he shot him?" Heisler asked.

"He was dead," Bergamotto said.

The exchange came during the before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in the trial of 20-year-old Crockam, who is charged with killing Lakewood police officer and Manchester resident Christopher Matlosz. The prosecution attempted to demonstrate Tuesday that Crockam had a gun and admitted to using it during the January 2011, shooting.

Bergamotto said that she was running errands when the friend she was with received a call asking them to pick up Crockam. When they met him on Cedar Wood Drive, the witness said that Crockam was "out of breath" and requested to go to Camden, though he did not specify why.

Bergamotto drove to Camden with Crockam and others, including Quamel Peteete, who testified that he had seen the defendant with a revolver just days before the shooting.

On the stand, Peteete said that he may have seen the gun two weeks before the shooting, but the prosecution played a videotaped statement — with the jurors out of the courtroom — made days after the shooting in which the witness said it was days before. When the jurors returned, Peteete testified to what he said on the video.

Peteete recalled his phone conversation with Crockam around the time that Matlosz was shot on August Drive.

"He said, 'I need a ride. I did some b------t,'" Peteete said of the phone call. 

Phone records produced by the prosecution showed that Peteete and Crockam exchanged phone calls until about 4:17 p.m. At that time, Peteete who was in the car with Bergamotto, picked up the suspect and were off to the apartment of Crockam's friend in Camden. 

Peete said that he was sleeping for most of the car ride and did not recall hearing any conversation. Neither he nor Bergamotto recalled seeing a gun during the ride to Camden. 

Bergamotto said that she did not recall anything being thrown from the car during the trip.

"It was a cold day and I would have noticed if the windows were down," she said.

Defense attorney Mark Fury questioned the truth behind Bergamotto's story, since she originally told Lakewood police that she did not give him a ride and later said she drove him to a local Wawa instead. Fury also asked what the reaction from those in the car was after Crockam allegedly made the admission that he shot Matlosz.

Bergamotto said that she could not remember. Fury pointed out that Bergamotto told police she would be honest 16 pages into her 32-page statement. 

"I was scared to get in trouble," Bergamotto responded when Heisler asked why she initially lied to police.

Fury also took issue with Peteete's statement that he had seen Crockam with a .38-caliber revolver. The attorney showed Peteete photos of guns, and the witness could not identify one that was similar to the one he allegedly saw Crockam carrying.

"I don't know, they all look the same to me, to tell you the truth," Peteete said. 

The trial will continue Wednesday morning.

Crockam's brother, Raheem Montgomery, was arrested for making terroristic threats, claiming that he would go on a shooting rampage at Lakewood High School if his brother is convicted, reports the Asbury Park Press. Montgomery, who was found in possession of a handgun, was charged and is being held at the Ocean County Jail on $250,000 bail.