A former Newark police officer was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for the shooting death of Michael Gaffney, 37, of Piscataway.
According to authorities, an investigation into the incident began when Union Township police responded to Paddy’s Place, a bar on the 900 block of Rosemont Avenue North in Union, early on Friday, May 13, 2016.
At that location officers found the body of Gaffney, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation, which involved the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Unit and Homicide Task Force, the Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, the Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit, and the Union Township Police Department, determined that prior to the shooting, Officer Joseph Macchia - an 11-year veteran of the Newark Police Department - and Gaffney engaged in a physical altercation outside the bar.
After several minutes, Macchia and Gaffney separated from one another. However, several minutes later, they reengaged in a second physical altercation. During the course of that second altercation, Macchia fired his service weapon multiple times, fatally shooting Gaffney.
Officials say days later Macchia turned himself in to authorities.