By: Richard L. Smith
A state grand jury has decided not to file criminal charges against an Elizabeth police officer in connection with a fatal car crash that claimed two lives in December 2023, according to a statement released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
The crash, which occurred on December 10, 2023, in Elizabeth, resulted in the deaths of 54-year-old Juan Carlos Alvear and 63-year-old Ysabel Gonzalez, both residents of Elizabeth.
Their deaths were investigated by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) and reviewed by a state grand jury in accordance with the Independent Prosecutor Directive of 2019.
This directive, enacted after a change in state law, requires the Attorney General’s Office to investigate any deaths that occur during encounters with law enforcement.
OPIA established specific protocols in July 2021 to ensure that grand jury proceedings are conducted with neutrality, transparency, and fairness.
The investigation involved witness interviews, analysis of surveillance footage, examination of photographs, and autopsy reports.
This evidence was presented to a state grand jury, which, after reviewing the case and deliberating, returned a "no bill" on January 27, 2025, determining that no criminal charges should be brought against Elizabeth Police Officer Michael White.
According to the findings, Elizabeth police officers were dispatched around 5:42 a.m. on December 10, 2023, in response to reports of gunfire near Fourth Avenue and Centre Street.
Officer White was among those responding and pursued a vehicle of interest through several streets in Elizabeth before it entered Routes 1&9.
The driver of the pursued vehicle, later identified as 21-year-old Jamie Fernandez of Elizabeth, ran a red light at the intersection of Grand Street and Routes 1&9, crashing into a taxi. Officer White’s patrol vehicle was not involved in the collision.
The taxi driver, Alvear, and his sole passenger, Gonzalez, both died from injuries sustained in the crash.
Two of the three occupants in Fernandez’s vehicle were arrested and later treated for non-life-threatening injuries, while a third person fled the scene on foot.
The Union County Prosecutor’s Office led the prosecution of Fernandez and his passenger, 19-year-old Joel Pieretti, both of Elizabeth.
On October 21, 2024, Fernandez pleaded guilty to two counts of death by auto and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon.
He was sentenced to two consecutive four-year prison terms, totaling eight years, with 85% of the sentence required to be served before parole eligibility.
He also received a concurrent five-year sentence for the weapons charge. Pieretti pleaded guilty to joyriding and was sentenced to time served.
In line with the Attorney General’s Office policies established in 2019 to ensure transparency in fatal police encounters, video footage from multiple surveillance cameras and audio recordings from police radio communications related to the crash have been made public.