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The State Police troopers approached the vehicle on Starlite Hill Road in the Columbia section of the Warren County town of Knowlton while responding to an accident call shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
Inside it were the driver and a dog, he said.
The troopers were "attempting to communicate with the driver" when he "fired a weapon from within the vehicle and shot the dog," Bruck said.
The troopers "then fired their weapons," the attorney general said.
"The driver was subsequently transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania and was pronounced deceased shortly after 2:30 a.m.," he said.
The driver's identity was temporarily being withheld. Bruck also didn't say what happened to the dog.
Both state law and his own guidelines require Bruck to investigate any and all deaths 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 is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner."
Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury -- ordinarily consisting of 16 to 23 citizens -- that determines whether or not there's cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement.
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