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Officer Garrell Middleton was responding to a radio alert of an attempted carjacking at Clifton Commons with his emergency lights on when he hit his brakes, swerved to avoid a turning vehicle and struck Sook Hee Lee, who was on the sidewalk, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
State law and Platkin's own guidelines require his staff to investigate all deaths in New Jersey that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody."
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation by the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
The attorney general said his investigators learned that Wayne police had alerted neighboring towns of an attempted carjacking possibly involved a handgun and a shotgun on Oct. 22, 2020.
A short time later, Platkin said, a citizen at the Clifton Commons shopping center off Route 3 called 911 and said he'd prevented an attempt to take his car.
The descriptions matched the carjackers in the Wayne incident, so multiple marked units and detectives flooded the area, he said.
Middleton was en route when the civilian vehicle turned in front of him and he tried avoiding it, hitting Lee.
The officer rendered medical aid before EMS workers took Lee to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, where she was pronounced dead a little over a half-hour after the crash, the attorney general said.
Born in South Korea, Lee emigrated to the United States in 1985, according to her obituary. She lived in Clifton for several years and attended St. Andrew Kim Church, where she was a member of the Legio Mariae and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).
She also volunteered for several church activities, loved ones said.
Lee's death was investigated by Platkin's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) and presented to a grand jury -- a process that occurs no matter what the circumstances are.
Evidence included witness interviews, "black box" data, security camera footage and autopsy results, the attorney general said.
Grand jurors completed deliberations on Monday before voting a "no bill" -- meaning there was no cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of police, Platkin said.
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