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Former Edison Basketball Coach Loses Teaching License After Fatal DWI

The former head basketball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison has lost his teaching license after he was convicted of causing a fatal crash while drunk, state officials said.

Darius Griffin Jr.

Darius Griffin Jr.

Photo Credit: NJ Department of Corrections

Darius Griffin Jr., 27, of Piscataway, lost his health and physical education certificate after a January hearing of the State Board of Examiners. The board said Griffin’s assault by auto and vehicular homicide convictions made him an inappropriate role model for children.

Through a lawyer, Griffin disputed the revocation of his teaching license, calling his blood alcohol level at the time of the crash questionable, and that he fell asleep at the wheel after a long day working.

Griffin was injured in the crash, his lawyer said, noting that he was in a coma and still had trouble with walking and balance.

The state board countered that Griffin pled guilty to the crash and did not dispute any of the facts against him.

Griffin was arrested following a drunken October 2017 crash that left 59-year-old Steven Kemmlein, of Wayne, dead. 

Kemmlein, who lived in Wayne, served in the U.S. Coast Guard before he drove a tractor-trailer for Coca-Cola for more than 19 years. Kemmlein was a member of the Pompton Falls Volunteer Fire Department in Wayne, where he once served as its captain.

Griffin pleaded guilty in May 2018 to second-degree vehicular homicide, assault by auto and driving while intoxicated. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in state prison.

At the time of the crash, Griffin was a first year head coach of the Bishop Ahr Trojans varsity basketball team

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