A 31-year-old man who authorities said rammed several police cars during a 15-mile chase in North Jersey early yesterday was shot and killed by four officers who said he tried to hit them with his vehicle.
Stanton Lamont Crew of Morristown was pronounced dead at the scene on Interstate 80 in Morris County shortly after the incident about 1:30 a.m. Morris County Prosecutor John B. Dangler said police fired 27 shots at the car after they feared they were going to be struck.
Adrienne Lynn Hart, 22, also of Morristown, a passenger in Crew's car, sustained a minor leg wound. She was treated at Morristown Memorial Hospital and released.
Dangler and Lt. Col. Michael A. Fedorko, acting superintendent of the state police, said the preliminary investigation indicated the shooting had no racial overtones. Three of the police officers involved are white and the fourth is Hispanic, authorities said. Crew was African American.
Two officers were state troopers, one was a member of the Denville Police Department, and the fourth was from the Parsippany Police Department.
Hart told authorities she had been drinking at a bar in Dover and called Crew, a friend, to give her a ride home. Shortly after he picked her up, police attempted to stop him.
Hart told investigators that Crew told her he was driving without insurance and could not afford to be stopped by police. During the chase, authorities said, Crew rammed four patrol cars when they tried to cut him off. Part of the chase was recorded on video cameras inside patrol cars.
The pursuit went eastbound on I-80. The blue 1985 Chevrolet Camaro went across the median strip, then proceeded west. The vehicle drove up onto a dirt berm and became stuck.
Police said the driver kept putting the vehicle in reverse, and then in drive, trying to get free. Officers standing near the car opened fire when the car started toward them, authorities said.
``The officers had to make a split-second decision, and they fired their weapons,'' Dangler said.
The investigation was continuing, Dangler said.
