Family, friends remember motorist shot to death by cop

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a Randolph funeral home today to pay final respects to Ruben Walter Martinez, the 21-year-old motorist shot to death by Denville police during a traffic stop last week.

There was utter silence in the hallway of the Tuttle Funeral Home shortly before 2 p.m., when the viewing room was to be opened. Soon, the room was filled with sobbing mourners, both young and old, who made a procession by the open casket adorned in red and white carnations.

By the casket stood Martinez mother, Maureen Miles, and his two brothers, Mark and Alex. The mother and sons embraced each mourner as they left the casket after paying their respects.

The crowd was a mixture of young people who knew Martinez from his days at Morris Knolls High School and older people who knew the family. A young boy with a platinum Mohawk haircut stood next to an old man with a walker who hobbled his way to the casket.

The Reverend John DeMattia led a brief prayer service at the beginning of the wake, reminding the mourners that justice could be found ultimately in God.

“For those who believe in his love, death is not the end,” DeMattia told the crowd.

In the parking lot of the funeral home, mourners gathered to share their remembrances of a young man who liked fast cars — and was shot five times for still-unspecified actions as he allegedly tried to elude police after being ordered to pull over on Franklin Road and Route 46 in Denville early on Thursday, June 26.

“What we want is peace and justice for the family,” said Mike Arlen, 20, of Rockaway. “Ruben was the sweetest, most hard-working person I’ve ever met.”

Beside him stood Rockaway's Kim Junkermeier, 19, who wiped a tear from her eye. Asked what justice would mean in this case, she paused. “The police officer who did this gets to go on and live his life,” she said. “Ruben doesn’t have that privilege.”

Martinez was a 2005 graduate of Morris Knolls High School who moved to Laredo, Texas, and was working as an auto mechanic. He had come back to town to attend his brother Mark’s graduation from Morris Knolls on June 26.

But after a night of partying and visiting friends, Martinez, in a black Mustang Bullet with Texas plates, was stopped by Denville Police officer Richard Byrne at 2:14 a.m. Police say Martinez tried to elude the stop, and a brief chase involving Byrne and another Denville officer, Danny Fernandez, ensued.

At some point during the incident, Byrne fired five shots, each of which hit Martinez, authorities said. Martinez’s car crashed through a white picket fence and went over a retaining wall before slamming into an above-ground swimming pool. He was pronounced dead at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville shortly before 3 a.m., just hours before his brother Mark was to graduate.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi has declined to comment on the circumstances and motivation for the shooting and is heading an investigation by more than two dozen detectives and lawyers. Authorities have removed a videotape from Byrne's patrol car and interviewed the officer on Wednesday.

Many of the mourners were still in shock over the sudden violent event that has shaken usually quiet Denville, a suburban community straddling Route 80 north of Morristown.

"Being a mother, my heart is ripped apart," said Sherry Sala of Rockaway. "I feel for the family. I feel for the officer."

Her husband, Bill, added: "Shot five times is what I'm having a difficult time with. But we really don't know what happened."