***Updated With Identities of Decedent and Officer***

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation of a fatal motor vehicle accident on Aug. 1, 2021, in East Brunswick in which a police vehicle struck and fatally injured a pedestrian on State Route 18.

The decedent has been identified as Julius Filep, 55, of Edison, N.J. The police officer who was driving the police vehicle that struck Mr. Filep has been identified as Officer Mitchell Ngai of the East Brunswick Police Department.

According to the preliminary investigation, Officer Ngai, who was on-duty and in uniform, was operating a marked patrol vehicle on State Route 18, responding to a reported motor vehicle accident in the southbound lanes of the roadway. He was traveling northbound in the vicinity of the reported accident at approximately 3:35 a.m. when he struck Mr. Filep, who was walking in the roadway in front of 260 State Route 18. Medical aid was rendered to Mr. Filep, who was transported by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 4:13 a.m.

This investigation is being conducted pursuant to Attorney General Directive 2019-4, which implements the statutory requirement that the Attorney General’s Office conduct the investigation of any death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody, and which establishes clear standards and procedures for conducting such investigations.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.

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