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The grand jury reached its decision in March, but per protocol the incident was then reviewed by the state Attorney General’s office, the prosecutor’s office also said.
The officer, who was not identified, was at a 24-hour car wash on Edgar Road around 5 a.m. Sept. 20, 2017, when Dequelle Nelson entered the officer’s vehicle while the officer’s back was turned, investigators found.
When the police officer confronted Nelson, another man, 23-year-old Krishad Jones of Newark, punched the officer hard in the back of the head.
The two fought and the officer pulled his weapon, opening fire and hitting Jones five times. Nelson got into another vehicle and fled the scene, investigators said.
Jones was treated at University Hospital in Newark and charged with carjacking and robbery.
Jones, who was shot twice in the back, challenged the officer’s claim of self-defense, stating that he had not struck the officer from behind but had only “tap[ped] him on the shoulder,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Surveillance video from a nearby business, however, supported the officer’s account of the incident, the prosecutor’s office said.
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