AG’s office releases surveillance video, police radio communications from ongoing investigation of cyclist and NJSP sergeant involved in fatal crash in Hackettstown
HACKETTSTOWN, NJ (Warren County) – The Attorney General’s Office Monday released surveillance-camera footage and police radio transmissions relating to the death of a Morris County man who was killed in a crash in Hackettstown involving a member of the New Jersey State Police (NJSP).
According to the preliminary investigation, on Feb. 5, shortly after 6:00 a.m., Sergeant First Class Kesene Grier of the NJSP was driving an unmarked police SUV which collided with a cyclist, later identified as Raul L. Diaz, 59, of Long Valley, on Willow Grove Street in the area of Brook Hollow Drive.
Diaz was transported to Hackettstown Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:17 a.m.
This fatal police encounter is under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA). The recordings are being released pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 designed to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters. Representatives of Mr. Diaz’s family were given an opportunity to review the recordings prior to their public release.
To view and listen to the audio and video recordings, click here.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of deaths that occur during encounters 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.
