Camden, N.J. – A Chesilhurst man is facing charges after a victim died from injuries he sustained in a fight nearly six weeks after it occurred, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and Chesilhurst Police Chief Wendell Smith.
Alexander B. Toussaint, 29, of Chesilhurst, has been charged with one count of first-degree Manslaughter and one count of third-degree Aggravated Assault.
Officers responded to the 600 block of Edwards Ave. in Chesilhurst on Jan. 28 around 4:40 p.m. for a report of an injured man. When they arrived, they found the victim, identified as James Bates, 47, of Chesilhurst, unconscious on the ground.
Witnesses told responding officers Bates had been in a fight with Toussaint. Bates was taken to an area hospital where he remained until he died on March 7.
During an investigation, detectives later uncovered surveillance footage that captured the incident. In the video, the two men are seen fighting. Toussaint is captured hitting Bates in the jaw, causing Bates to fall to the ground where he lay until officers arrived.
On March 8, a medical examiner determined Bates’s Cause of Death to be blunt force trauma to the head and his Manner of Death as homicide.
Toussaint was charged on March 8 and is currently being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility.
