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Sgt. William Grissom was driving southbound on Route 23 in Franklin when a black Honda Prelude pulled out of the ShopRite parking lot near Walsh Street on Monday, May 27 around 10:40 a.m., NJ Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
Video shows the Prelude emerging from behind vehicles in traffic on the northbound side of the roadway, the attorney general's office said.
The officer's dashcam, released Monday, Oct. 28 by Platkin, shows the Honda pulling out on Route 23 and slamming into him. The video blacks out before impact. Platkin also released two surveillance videos, which also show the crash, and 911 calls.
Sgt. Grissom called in the accident and rendered medical aid to the occupants of the Honda, including 19-year-old Deanna D'Arco, a front seat passenger in the vehicle.
D'Arco was taken to Morristown Medical Center, where she died two days later, the attorney general's office said.
Click here to hear the 911 calls and watch the dashcam/surveillance footage.
State law requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.
A GoFundMe for D'Arco's Vernon family raised more than $9,300. Her organs were donated through the NJ Sharing Network.
D'Arco's obituary says she was a teacher's assistant at Little Learners Academy in Jefferson Township, having graduated in 2021 from the Youth Corps in Newton.
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