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High Speed Hillside Police Pursuit, Crash Leaves One Person Dead in Newark's South Ward

Hillside

There is a crash investigation underway on a street in Newark's South Ward that had one confirmed fatality at this time.

According to preliminary reports, police in Hillside were in a high-speed pursuit of a vehicle where the driver ignored demands by officers to pull over.

The chase left Hillside and entered Newark city limits with the driver of the car barreling down Newark's South Ward Street and Hillside Police officers in close proximity.

According to police, the crash came to a crashing halt with the suspect's vehicle slammed into a car near the intersection of Bragaw Avenue and Aldine Street just before 2:45 a.m.

Police say the suspect bailed from the car but was apprehended after a brief foot pursuit.

Emergency responders raced to the scene when notified that several individuals were injured and one person heavily trapped inside the car.

One male occupant inside the crashed civilian car was pronounced dead at the scene while EMS transported about four others to the hospital suffering non-fatal injuries.

According to sources at the scene, the car belonged to a law enforcement officer -possibly a corrections officer- and the fatally injured person is probably a lawman. Officials have not confirmed these accounts as of 4:10 a.m.

The crash is in its early stages of the investigation.

**UPDATE 6:08 AM** Essex Prosecutor: "The Attorney General's Office handles these fatal incidents under the new rules adopted by Gov. Murphy".

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