A Union County grand jury has returned indictments against a Rahway man accused of leading police on a vehicle pursuit that ended in a fatal crash this past summer in Elizabeth, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Wednesday.
Surpris Ophilien Jr., 30, was indicted Wednesday on charges of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree death by auto, second-degree eluding police, second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, and two second-degree weapons offenses.
It was approximately 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2015, when Elizabeth Police Department patrol units were called to the Allstar Nightclub on 3rd Street in Elizabethon a report of an altercation, according to Union County Homicide Task Force Supervisor Michael Henn, who is prosecuting the case.
On their way to the scene, two Elizabeth police officers in a patrol vehicle spotted a green GMC pickup truck being driven by Ophilien travel through a red light at a high rate of speed, Henn said.
Ophilien subsequently led the officers on a brief vehicle pursuit, but once the pickup truck started traveling the wrong way down a one-way street, the pursuit was terminated.
Moments later, a collision took place a short distance away, on an overpass for a ramp leading to North Avenue East in Elizabeth.
Ophilien, who was found to be in possession of a fully loaded .45-caliber handgun, climbed out of the wrecked pickup and ran a short distance, leaping from the overpass to the roadway below before being arrested.
The critically injured driver of the vehicle Ophilien had struck on the overpass, 25-year-old Edward Coleman of East Orange, was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead several hours later.