Search fatalities

Donelle Miles

Age : 50

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 11/11/2021

Location : U.S. Route 1 near Raymond Road

City : South Brunswick

County : Middlesex

State : New Jersey

Agency : New Jersey State Police

Officer(s) :Tennyson J. Whitted

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Pedestrian bystander killed by police vehicle

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON WHY POLICE VEHICLE WAS ON THE ROAD:
The New Jersey State Police did not publicly disclose what assignment Trooper Tennyson J. Whitted was performing, where he was traveling, or whether he was responding to an emergency when his marked patrol vehicle struck Miles.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 11/11/2021, at approximately 5:55 a.m., New Jersey State Police Trooper Tennyson J. Whitted was driving a marked State Police vehicle southbound on U.S. Route 1 near Raymond Road in South Brunswick when he struck 50-year-old pedestrian Donelle Miles. Miles was pronounced dead at the scene. The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office assumed the investigation.
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Authorities initially withheld both Miles's identity and Whitted's identity. Miles was publicly identified several days later, but the State Police continued withholding the trooper's name and details concerning what he was doing immediately before the collision. More than a year after Miles's death, his family told reporters they still had received virtually no explanation of how or why the crash occurred.
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Miles was a Plainsboro resident and a 1990 graduate of Trenton Central High School. His family described the prolonged lack of information surrounding his death as deeply frustrating while they sought an explanation of the circumstances that led to him being struck by the State Police vehicle.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
1 Fatality.
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DISPOSITION:
The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office investigated the fatal collision. No criminal charge against Whitted for his role in the collision was located.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The trooper can now be identified as Tennyson J. Whitted. Public employment records show Whitted was already a New Jersey State Police trooper by 2015.
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EYEWITNESS OR FAMILY STATEMENTS:
Miles's family publicly challenged the lack of transparency surrounding his death, saying that more than a year after the collision they still did not know what happened or why the State Police vehicle struck him.
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LITIGATION:
On 11/10/2023, the Estate of Donelle Miles, administrator Darshelle Miles, and Miles's daughter Azalea Miles filed a civil lawsuit in Middlesex County Superior Court against the New Jersey State Police and Trooper Tennyson Whitted. The complaint identifies Whitted as the State Police employee who was driving the vehicle that struck and killed Miles. This later litigation finally made public the identity of the trooper authorities had withheld after the crash.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.nj.com/middlesex/2023/03/we-know-nothing-nj-family-longs-for-answers-in-2021-police-crash-that-killed-loved-one.html
https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/edison/obituaries/donelle-miles-50-struck-killed-by-nj-state-trooper-on-route-1/820543/
https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/crime/2021/11/17/route-1-south-brunswick-crash-nj-police-car/8650183002/
https://www.middlesexcountynj.gov/Home/Components/News/News/297/736
https://nj1015.com/prosecutor-ids-plainsboro-nj-man-hit-killed-by-state-police-vehicle-on-route-1/
https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/update-man-fatally-struck-nj-state-police-vehicle-identified-plainsboro-resident
https://trellis.law/doc/196585397/complaint-with-jury-demand-for-mid-l-006361-23-submitted-by-tucker-stuart-a-szaferman-lakind-blumstein-blader-pc-on-behalf-donelle-miles-darshelle-miles-azalea-miles-against-new-jersey-state-police-tennyson-whitted-john-jane-doe-1-200-abc-corporat