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Briana: tonight on "NJ Spotlight News" sources Governor Murphy intends to appoint his Former Chief of Staff to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of senior senator Bob Menendez.

>> if you are Governor Murphy, there is no one closer, no one was meant more to your administration, no one who has meant more to your political success than George Helmy.

Briana: New questions surround police de-escalation training during mental health crises in the wake of a fatal police shooting in Fort Lee.

>> We know police officers as well as those affected by the situation are looking to change course after something like this.

Briana: Also, just as for Kyle.

More than two years after the death of the Navy SEAL trainee, officers allegedly responsible will face a military hearing.

>> There's a lot of things going on wrong here.

It is very abusive.

Briana: I New Jersey transit fare holiday after a summer of brutal delays and cancellations.

The governor announces a full week of free rides on roads and rail.

"NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

>> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening, thanks for joining us this Thursday night.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Governor Murphy is expected to appoint George Helmy, his Former Chief of Staff, to temporarily fill the seat of Democratic U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez while the election for a permanent replacement plays out.

Menendez will formally resign next week after being convicted on corruption charges.

"New Jersey globe" first reported the decision.

Sources confirmed to "NJ Spotlight News" Helmy is locked in and an official announcement could come as early as tomorrow.

The 44-year-old is a veteran political operative and currently serves as an executive at Barnabas health -- RWJ Barnabas Health, an underwriter of "NJ Spotlight News."

As Brenda Flanagan reports, the choice is meeting with mixed reaction.

Gov.

Murphy: I promise we will put somebody in the seat that has jersey values.

Brenda: Governor Murphy declined to confirm that George Helmy is his pick to fill the vacated Senate cecum despite several sources and multiple news outlets reporting the governor will appoint his close friend and Chief of Staff to replace disgraced Senator Bob Menendez.

Speaking on Fox 5 this morning, Murphy did acknowledge reports that Helmy is his choice.

Gov.

Murphy: Yep, that is a rumor, gray professional, great human being, but nothing official, nothing to report.

Brenda: Murphy promised an announcement in a couple days could Helmy would only serve as a placeholder since New Jersey voters elect a brand-new Senator in November.

Polls put Andy Kim ahead in the race.

Micah Rasmussen believes that instead of picking Kim, Murphy may object to reward a friend with a single her honor.

>> If you are Governor Murphy, there is no one closer, no one who has meant more to your administration, no one who has meant more to your political success than George Helmy.

He is the consummate insider.

I think personally it makes a lot of sense.

Brenda: But it also drew criticism.

A Rutger Professor posted on X the choice "reminds us of his boosting wife Tammy for the job.

Murphy disses Andy Kim and is getting seniority --blocks his getting seniority."

>> Whether or not this is a temporary appointment that could have bestowed incumbency to Andy Kim or a temporary appointment that could have bestowed seniority to Andy Kim, which ultimately could have benefited the state, those are the questions.

Brenda: Republicans examine desk Republicans vamp -- Republicans vehemently opposed making Kim the incumbent.

They argued for particular compass Medina, who also ran in the primary, as the first woman, first Latina, and first woman of color in this critical moment she was eager to serve, but she wishes Helmy well.

>> He is very smart guy he has served in many administrations.

But I think this was an opportunity to also give stability to the position and actually be inclusive of many other voices in the process.

Brenda: Helmy didn't respond to requests for comment.

The 44-year-old Jersey City native joined Murphy's staff in 2019 when he helped to stabilize the administration's shaky relationship with state legislators.

He is currently an executive with RWJBarnabas Health, and underwriter of "NJ Spotlight News."

In the Senate health both for Democrats' -- he helped bolster Democrats' greater -- razor thin majority.

He will get that chance because of Bob Menendez being indicted for bribery and corruption.

>> We are at a critical moment in politics in New Jersey and nationally, and what people are looking for our leaders who give them hope.

I'm not going anywhere.

I'm here to advocate for women and New Jersey working families.

Brenda: Menendez resigned effective August 20.

He filed to run for reelection as an independent and has until tomorrow, August 16, to pull his name off the ballot.

I am Brenda Flanagan, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Friends and community members of 25-year-old Victoria Lee gathered again today for a vigil honoring her life.

Lee was shot and killed by police last month after her brother called 911 for help while she was in the midst of an apparent mental health crisis.

The event at her home in Fort Lee is still under investigation, but her family is disputing an initial report given by the Attorney General's office which is dated Lee was holding -- which is stated Lee was holding a small pocket knife when officers entered the home.

Lee's family is demanding the state police bodycam footage to prove otherwise.

The incident has put renewed focus on mandatory training all officers in New Jersey were required to complete by 2022, teaching intervention techniques to prevent harm.

Our mental health writer looked into the training and recently sat down with me to explain exactly what it entails.

I know you have been really following this and looking into the protocols that are in place.

Let's start with this mandatory training.

Why was that instituted, and what exactly does it entail?

>> That training was instituted by the Attorney General in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd to make sure all police officers across the state received de-escalation training to prevent crises like these.

The training entails a couple different things.

Really it is to slow things down, to make sure that time and space is used in these types of situations so everybody can go home safely.

That is the goal of this de-escalation program, and it is just one effort that police officers have been trained upon.

The other one is this active bystander for law enforcement training that is used to intervene in situations to prevent further harm and to also really foster a supportive culture among law enforcement.

We know those two trainings are required for all law enforcement officers.

Briana: How intensive is it?

We have talked to law-enforcement throughout these last few years when there has been a spotlight on and we have that incidents in Patterson, and they say often this training is one day, it is not necessarily enough to help with critical decision-making.

How intensive is this training, and how much is it supposed to help in a situation like this?

Brenda: We know right now -- Bobby: We know right now that the training could be over the course of one day, could be over the course of two days.

Many of these training programs last for 40 hours and that could be divided in a number of different ways over the course of a week.

It is a short-term training right now.

But there has been cause towards all police departments -- there have been calls towards all police departments in the state to arrive together.

A police officer a mental health professional in a lot of situations, that has been a call for many to go towards that program, and that is what we know right now.

Briana: Which we should note was not available -- is not yet available in Fort Lee.

It's pending, the arrive- together program .

It helps officers make these decisions in the moments when it matters most.

Bobby: The training is really meant to, as I mentioned before, slow things down so police officers would have what they call a plan B, that they are not resorting to deadly force as a final option.

The other aspects of this training is to gather as much information as they can beforehand to essentially ask, how we got to this address before, do we know if somebody is in a mental health crisis, do we know the name of the person beforehand -- Briana: Is that possible when seconds matter and they are responding to a call like this together that much information?

Bobby: If there is a history of the caller they would be able to track through a call log, there is a possibility that could happen.

That information could be obtained on the scene by police officers speaking with family members in many situations.

What we know right now from this particular incident is that family had called in the past seeking mental health support for their sister.

As decals continue to emerge, those are some of the most basic aspects of the training, the de-escalation training that many officers are required to take.

Briana: Curious to know if anyone of authority has spoken out about this incident and the training and what may or may not have been implemented here.

Bobby: There have been a few people that have spoken out, most notably the executive director of a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., called the police executive research forum.

He really created this training program that has been taken up by places like the state of New Jersey to de-escalate situations like this.

He had spoken out and called the Fort Lee shooting a tragic incident.

He said we should learn from an incident like this and that they essentially use situations like what happened in Fort Lee in their own training to prevent situations like this from occurring.

We know that police officers as well as those affected by the situation are looking to change course after something like this.

Briana: That's notable, not often that folks speak out in that way.

Bobby, thanks so much for coming in.

Two Navy officials made see disciplinary action for their role in the death of Kyle Mullen more than two years after the 24-year-old Navy SEAL trainee died, completing the draw -- completing the notoriously difficult Hell Week, due to what autopsies confirmed was untreated pneumonia.

A lawyer from one of the officers facing blame confirmed the Navy will convene and of hearings to determine what if any repercussions they will face.

Kyle's mother has been on a year-long quest to get answers and justice for her son.

She joins me for the latest.

It's good to talk to you again.

Of course, an administrative hearing does not bring back your son, does not erase the tragedy your family has been through.

But is it encouraging that it seems as though some closure may be had, at least for these two men?

>> It's kind of difficult for me to answer, because Navy law is different than civilian law.

The process takes a long and I don't know what took so long, and I just feel like maybe they are not under oath, and if they lie, they can go to jail.

I know that Gary's spewing lies and I don't have a voice for that, and thank you for having me, because what he is saying, steroids have nothing to do with it, he is a liar.

In large part it could be caused by aggressive exercise.

Regardless of those two things, he died of untreated pneumonia and that is facts.

Not only my son, but three others the same day had pneumonia that were cleared of that day and they went to the hospital after my son died could one was intubated, too were given oxygen.

His statement is incorrect.

When he is talking about steroids in his car, that is like saying if I share my car with someone who has smoked cigarettes and I leave a pack of cigarettes in my car, does that mean I smoke?

If I did smoke and I died of pneumonia, did cigarettes cause it?

I don't know what he is trained to do.

--he is trying to do.

Briana: Geary, just to clarify for our viewers, is Captain Brad Geary, who was in command of the seal trainees which Kyle was a part of, and he has recently been on I guess we could say a media blitz to talk about this particular case, and he has been blaming Kyle's death on steroid use.

Regina: It's disgusting, because my son is dead and he doesn't have a voice.

That is such a bad character for him to do that, because he knows how my son died.

He's a liar.

That was very hurtful to me, because the first investigation was done by the seals investigating themselves.

Like I said all along, that is not OK. Admiral William Lesher did not sign off on that.

I pushed for an independent investigation, which was still inside the Navy but outside of the SEALs, and they uncovered all the evidence.

I had nothing to do with that.

I didn't say to put Geary in jail I couldn't do that to a father of four.

I just wanted him in trouble and those in trouble and needed to be in trouble and changes for the medical care especially for these young men or these instructors that were abusing the men, they weren't sleeping the six hours that were protocol the first three weeks, making them go off base to Ace Hardware store, spending their own money to buy a box, retired SEAL who owns that store.

A lot of things going wrong there.

It is very abusive.

I don't know, they redact a lot of things.

I know what I hear from the men, my son called me out of breath, and I cannot imagine him being clear that day when he was given oxygen twice that morning.

Briana: Do you anticipate being called for these administered of hearings, Regina?

Regina: I don't know when it is.

I hear they are going to happen.

I hear they are potentially in Coronado.

I think I can go, it is close to the public.

I don't know a lot about Navy procedures.

I hear that I can go and stayed with them and have said to me or my own son said to me when he was alive, the fear that he couldn't go to the hospital or he would be dropped and that would deem him a quitter, and he never known wanted to be known as a quitter.

Even Geary himself, when I met him in California, he goes, "Well, ma'am, I heard your son said he didn't want to go to medical twice," because they are told pain is not what you say it is, so he was forging ahead.

If you are sick, delirious, hypoxic, you don't know your condition.

You count on the medical team to send you where you need to be.

He was given oxygen twice that morning.

Geary is lying, saying he was fine.

Briana: Let me ask you -- let me ask you with the time we have left about this open letter that was published today by a former Navy physician.

It was an apology to Kyle, and he essentially said from his time overseeing some of these programs he was failed, that he would still be alive today had the medical care been given.

Regina: Yes.

I said it from day one.

He was sick Wednesday of hell week.

He was given oxygen twice.

If he was sent to the hospital for an x-ray or blood work, they would know he had pneumonia.

He was spitting up blood and couldn't breathe.

I heard him not breathing on the phone.

I thought he would be taken care of.

I even sent text messages and I showed it to the news on "good morning America," how I was so worried.

You have an Admiral, Commander all standing there.

They sent the medical team home, young men witnessed him turn blue when he laid flat.

I told Geary the head of the bed should have been up, so the fluid went to the bottom of his lungs.

He died of untreated pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia.

If he was intubated just for when he hours and given antibiotics he would be alive.

It's sickening how he had to suffer.

He was suffocated, delirious.

Didn't remember calling me, some of the men said.

They called the BUD/S medic.

The boy in the room called, that poor young man.

I talked to him because I'm worried about him.

He is not responsible, he's not a medic.

He tried to get help from BUD/S, and they told him no one was on base and if you went outside he would be dropped.

My son just thought he would sleep, he doesn't know how bad his condition is, he is not a doctor.

Young men don't know their condition, that is what the medical is for.

Geary is in charge of it all and he says he has made changes.

No, they reverted back to what it used to be.

Under his command I heard there was changes made trying to keep the attrition rate low, so they were documented -- they were making him quit first so he went to medical and they weren't documenting it.

Briana: As you have pursued this, Regina, more and more SEAL candidates have come out and offer to the public support and thanks to you for pursuing this and hoping for some reforms.

Regina Mullen, thank you so much for coming on with me.

Regina: Thank you so much.

Briana: in our "Spotlight on Business" report, free rides for New Jersey transit customers for one week.

Governor Murphy announcing a fare holiday for riders will take place August 26th through September 2, meant to serve as an apology for commuters who dealt with a brutal summer of delays and cancellations.

During that time fares will be waived on all New Jersey buses, transit, trains, and light rails.

Monthly customers will get a 25% discount on September passes for spokesperson for MJT confirmed of the week of free rides will cost the agency about $19 million.

It comes after a 15% fare increase went into effect this July.

That was the first in nine years, with plans for a 3% annual increase in the coming years to help cover a budget shortfall.

And it comes on the heels of a new business surtax aimed at boosting finances for the troubled agency.

The head of New Jersey's business and industry Association said the announcement "smacks of unfairness to the states business community," saying "it sends a frustrating message since none of the money has been committed to New Jersey transit this year."

Gov.

Murphy: I think it is the least we can do.

We are fixing it.

We raise her corporate transit fee that will raise annually between $800 million and $1 billion to do what NJ transit needs to be done to get new equipment, etc.

That is going to take care of itself.

This is a tip of the cap to say thank you, thanks for your patience, you're not happy with the performance the summer, neither our weight.-- neither are we.

Briana: There is another clash over a proposal for warehouse of elements, this one in Monmouth County, where the developer sought approval to build in one town but residents of a neighboring community say it is their homes and life that would be affected.

Ted Goldberg has the story.

Ted: This farmland could become the site of a warehouse.

Locals hope its revolutionary history can stop those plans.

>> George Washington held a meeting saying this was important enough to intercept the British.

That's good enough for me.

Ted: It's good enough for Sue and many others who know the historical significance of the site, where George Washington camped out before the battle of Monmouth.

>> He sends 1500 troops on June 24, 1778, the day of think Kevin here.

Ted: People who live nearby have other concerns besides historical value.

Homeowners would live within a stone's throw of a warehouse complex spanning more than 450 ,000 square feet.

>> The warehouse will be essentially double the size of my house, and my property begins right at the back of the warehouse.

It will tower over my house.

Ted: Brian is concerned about noise, pollution, and increased flooding from so much impermeable surface and already high water table.

>> Water will drain off behind everyone's houses right along the tree line, which in an area where there is already standing water just seems like you could have a bad situation.

Ted: While the site is in upper freehold, it is right next to Allentown, and the mayor has doubts about the developer's analysis of how stormwater would be dealt with.

>> There stormwater basins would be dried in 2.5 days.

They need to be dried in three days.

We received our analysis, 40-page report that shows those stormwater basins will be holding water for 21 days.

Ted the developer did not respond to our request for comment.

>> They are meeting the requirements at a bare minimum, and they have been listening but saying we are not required to do more than we are doing.

>> We don't trust the developers.

That's been really evident from the planning board meetings.

They've been incredibly hostile to our residents, they have dodged questions, they have had fake signs up for almost two years at this point saying there would be luxury affordable housing.

Ted: While New Jersey has welcomed many more row -- warehouses, some communities have found different ways to stop them.

Some tax planning board meetings, others find ways to buy out the land and preserve it as farmland.

The mayor hopes the commissioners go that route.

>> They had multiple meetings.

There is still a price that needs to be worked out and lots of details.

But we are optimistic that their commitment to preserving this historic piece of property is in the best interest to Monmouth County.

Ted: If that hasn't happened, the Allentown Council President says residents will keep speaking at planning board meetings to air their concerns.

>> Hopefully the planning Board will decide the project is not the right fit for this community and this is based.

Ted: Active acquisitions only needs permission from upper freehold to get the warehouse built, but until that happens, you can expect people near the site to continue making noise.

I'm Ted Goldberg, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Turning to Wall Street, stocks bounced back after solid consumer and retail sales numbers were released.

Briana: That does it for us tonight.

Before you go, a reminder to download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast so you can listen anytime.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News," thank for being with us, have a great night.

We will see you back here tomorrow.

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