NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A 30-year-old former Newark police officer was convicted of manslaughter and other charges on Wednesday for shooting two people during a 2019 car chase in reckless defiance of department guidelines, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Jovanny Crespo, who was 26 years old at the time of the Jan. 28, 2019 shooting, left his vehicle three separate times to fire at the fleeing car during the chase, body camera footage showed.
He fatally shot the driver, 46-year-old Gregory Griffin, and injured Andrew Dixon, a 35-year-old passenger.
Body cam footage shows Crespo’s partner, Hector Ortiz, telling him to calm down and stay in the car as Crespo repeatedly pushes Ortiz to drive faster, cut off the suspect and generally take a more aggressive approach to the pursuit.
Prosecutors argued Crespo behaved in a criminally reckless manner when he broke police guidelines to fire at the moving vehicle, putting pedestrians, other motorists and his fellow officers at risk.
Crespo claimed one of the men he shot pointed a gun at him. If that was the case, Crespo would have been legally justified in firing as the suspect would have posed an “imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person” — the standard required for police officers to use deadly force.
Crespo’s argument was undermined by the fact that the windows of the vehicle he shot at were heavily tinted, making it impossible to see anything inside the car.
The Newark Police Department suspended Crespo without pay following his arrest.
The Essex County jury convicted Crespo of manslaughter, aggravated assault, official misconduct and weapon charges after a ten-week trial and four days of deliberation.
“When you are a police officer, you are sworn to uphold the law, and today an Essex County jury sent a clear message that they would not tolerate a blatant violation of the law by someone sworn to uphold it,” said Essex County Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Alexander Albu.
“It is a difficult day when anyone in law enforcement is convicted of a crime, but no one is above the law,’’ Assistant Prosecutor George Gay added.
Crespo is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility pending sentencing on Sept. 15.
He faces up to 30 years in prison for the shooting.
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