Grand jury brings no charges against Montclair officer in 2022 fatal Glen Ridge crash

John Connolly, NorthJersey.com
Updated ·2 min read
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A state grand jury declined to criminally charge a Montclair police officer involved in a fatal police chase in 2022, the Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday evening.

The pursuit, on May 10, 2022, began in Montclair as a vehicle fled an attempted stop by township police. The vehicle sped away down Bloomfield Avenue into Glen Ridge, where it crashed, resulting in the deaths of Gregory Dukes, 42, and Cecil Richardson, 47, both of Philadelphia.

On Sept. 18, the grand jury returned a “no bill,” or no criminal charges, against Montclair’s Michael Kupchak, who had tried to pull over the vehicle, the attorney general said in a release.

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The attorney general's investigation revealed that Kupchak activated his lights in a marked police car while trying to stop a vehicle driven by Dukes as part of a robbery investigation. The investigation determined that Dukes’ vehicle reached speeds of over 65 mph as the duo fled down Bloomfield Avenue from Montclair to Glen Ridge. Kupchak followed before slowing down to terminate the pursuit, the attorney general said. At around 4:30 a.m. on Bloomfield Avenue, near Ridgewood Avenue, Dukes appeared to lose control of the vehicle, and it exited the roadway and hit a tree.

More: NJ attorney general releases footage of police pursuit from fatal Glen Ridge crash

Dukes and Richardson were pronounced dead at the scene. A third occupant of the vehicle was taken to University Hospital in Newark. That man was indicted on several robbery and weapon charges and is awaiting trial, the attorney general said.

The presentation of the case to a grand jury is part of the Independent Prosecutor Directive established by then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in 2019. The directive creates protocols to investigate any deaths that involve encounters with police in New Jersey.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair NJ police officer not charged in fatal Glen Ridge crash