WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — A state grand jury has declined to bring criminal charges against a Woodbridge police officer in connection with a February crash on Route 1 that killed a juvenile passenger, the state Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday.
Jurors voted “no bill” on Nov. 9 after hearing testimony and evidence about Officer Khari Manzini’s role in the encounter, according to Attorney General Jennifer Davenport’s office. The vote means the panel concluded no criminal charges should be filed against him.
According to the investigation, shortly before midnight on Feb. 19, a Nissan Maxima driven by Mikael Salman, 18, of Iselin, was allegedly traveling at high speed southbound on Route 1. Manzini, who was in a marked patrol car, left his stationary position and tried to catch up to the vehicle, the attorney general’s office said.
The two vehicles left Route 1 South for residential streets before returning to the highway, authorities said. About a minute after getting back on Route 1 South, the Nissan struck another civilian vehicle near Gill Lane.
A juvenile passenger in the Nissan was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m. Feb. 20. The office did not release the passenger’s identity. Salman was hospitalized with injuries from the crash, and investigators found a dead dog inside the Nissan, according to the release.
The people in the second vehicle were seriously injured and taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, officials said. The police vehicle was not directly involved in the collision.
Investigators reviewed surveillance video, motor vehicle recorder footage, radio transmissions and autopsy reports, and interviewed law enforcement officers and civilians. The attorney general’s office previously released video of the events surrounding the crash.
The case was handled under the state’s Independent Prosecutor Directive of 2019. A 2019 state law requires the Attorney General’s Office to investigate deaths that occur during encounters with law enforcement officers acting in an official capacity, or while a person is in custody, and to present every such case to a grand jury.
Grand jurors in those cases are instructed on the possible criminal offenses, including homicide offenses, as well as on self-defense and other forms of legal justification, as required by statute. The office said a conflicts check found no actual or potential conflict of interest involving anyone assigned to the investigation.
The state Division of Criminal Justice, led by Interim Director Martha Nye, will determine whether the matter should be referred to the appropriate agency for an administrative internal affairs review, the office said.
This report is based on information from the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Source: New Jersey Office of the Attorney General press release
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