NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — The case of a Newark cop who shot two people during a 2019 high-speed car chase went to trial on Tuesday.
Jovanny Crespo, who was 26 years old at the time of the Jan. 28, 2019 shooting, fired at the fleeing vehicle three separate times during the chase. Dash and body camera video shows him leaving his vehicle to do so.
He fatally shot the driver Gregory Griffin, 46, 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.
Crespo faces charges for aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, official misconduct and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Prosecutors argue 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 claims one of the men he shot pointed a gun at him. If that is the case, Crespo would be 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.
Prosecutors said the windows of the vehicle Crespo was pursuing were heavily tinted, making it impossible to see anything inside the car.
The Newark Police Department suspended Crespo without pay pending the outcome of the trial.
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