The Newark police officer charged with manslaughter for allegedly shooting and killing a man fleeing a traffic stop after a harrowing pursuit caught on his own body camera tells News 4 in an exclusive interview that he would do it again if put in th…
The Newark police officer charged with manslaughter for allegedly shooting and killing a man fleeing a traffic stop after a harrowing pursuit caught on his own body camera tells News 4 in an exclusive interview that he would do it again if put in the same situation.
“I could have been dead,” 26-year-old Jovanny Crespo said, his first comments since he was indicted by an Essex County grand jury in May. “I believe my actions kept me alive. I think about my four kids I have and I thank God I got to go home that night.”
Crespo described in detail his perspective of the events as they unfolded late the night of Jan. 28 – a timeline that he says included an estimated seven gunshots fired only by his department-issued weapon that ultimately ended in the death of 46-year-old Gregory Griffin. Another Newark man in the car at the time, 35-year-old Andrew Dixon, was wounded in the fray but survived.
According to Crespo, Newark was on high alert at the time. In the two months leading up to the shooting, he says he arrested six people and recovered eight guns. He says his lieutenant had warned officers before they went out that January night to expect a retaliation shooting in the city. Crespo described that week as the most drastic week he experienced in his two years on the force. But he says he wasn’t “trigger-happy.”
“Trigger-happy? No, never,” Crespo said. “I never think about firing my weapon unless my life is at risk, somebody’s life is at risk.”
And to Crespo, his life – and the lives of others – were at risk that Monday night in January.
Crespo says he went to get out of his car and could see both the driver and passenger through the windshield and driver’s side window, despite the glass being tinted. The vehicle sped off again before he had a chance to do anything further. He got back in the patrol car with his partner and they started to pursue the other vehicle again.
Then the suspect’s car stops a second time. Crespo says his partner stopped their veh..
