Mercer Times

TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office today identified the decedent and the police officer involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash on May 27, 2024, in Franklin Borough, New Jersey. The civilian who died during the encounter has been identified as Deanna D’Arco, 19, from the Borough of Sussex, New Jersey.

According to the preliminary investigation, at approximately 10:41 a.m. on May 27, 2024, Franklin Borough Police Sgt. William Grissom, who was on duty and operating a marked police vehicle, was involved in a collision with a civilian vehicle near the intersection of State Route 23 and Walsh Street in Franklin Borough. Ms. D’Arco, a passenger in the civilian vehicle, sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to Morristown Medical Center for treatment. The driver of the civilian vehicle and the involved officer were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Ms. D’Arco was later pronounced deceased at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, May 29, 2024.

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 a person’s death that occurs during an encounter 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.