Criminal investigation into teen girl who hit, killed Robbinsville superintendent
ROBBINSVILLE — Authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into the conduct of a teen driver whose car struck and killed Robbinsville school Superintendent Dr. Steven Mayer on April 19, New Jersey 101.5 has learned.
"The criminal investigation is utilizing a variety of tools and we are awaiting additional information from several sources," a letter from acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri to Robbinsville officials reads.
The letter, dated April 28, was provided to New Jersey 101.5 Friday as part of a justification for denying parts of the station's Open Public Records Act request seeking materials related to the crash. An email accompanying it said the criminal investigation was still ongoing.
It does not make clear what aspects of the 17-year-old girl's conduct are being investigated.
The prosecutor's office has said until now only that no charges have been filed — it hasn't addressed whether any might be.
In the April 28 letter, the prosecutor's office said a motor vehicle accident report and a criminal investigation report weren't yet complete. It also said the ongoing investigation justified denying a records request for 911 tapes and those reports.
But township officials — who also cited the girl's age and privacy restrictions for the denials — did provide 75 recordings of police dispatch communications from the morning of the crash.
In the recordings, which begin at 6:13 a.m., police describe responding to a call for an unconscious male — Mayer — on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road after he and his dog were struck. The driver of the vehicle that hit him — whom authorities have described as a 17-year-old high school student — was calling from Pond Road Middle School, about six-tenths of a mile away.
Seven minutes into the communications, police say the driver is with her father at Pond Road. It's not immediately clear in the recordings at what point the father joined the girl, or whether she contacted him or police first.
Authorities have not previously mentioned the father's presence during the incident.
A spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office has not yet returned a call placed mid-day Monday.
A crowd of thousands gathered at a vigil for Mayer last month, where attendees described the superintendent as a kind man, deeply invested in the township and in his church.
“He was a part of this community; he made Robbinsvile what it is and clearly he’s touched so many people,” Sofia Maslak, a Robbinsville High School junior, told New Jersey 101.5 at the time. “Robbinsville’s never going to be the same. He was the face of Robbinsville.”
Robbinsville Mayer David Fried told NJ Advance Media last month the crash was "not a story of a good guy and a victim. This is a tragedy for both families."
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