Guilty: Man fatally beat driver over dinged-up BMW, cops say

A man authorities say killed a livery driver over a dinged-up BMW — assaulting him repeatedly, running him down with a car and leaving the injured man in the road, leading to his death — has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter.

According to the Union County Prosecutor's Office, 33-year-old Emmanuel John of Elizabeth and 45-year-old Imran Masood of Woodbridge got into a fight over a dinged car door. But John, on trial earlier this month, said he was set off by being called a racial slur in front of his 16-month-old son.

He'd been charged with first-degree murder, but ultimately was convicted of aggravated manslaughter, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident

A Union County jury has returned guilty verdicts against the Elizabeth man who assaulted and then fatally injured a livery driver following an argument over a dinged car in the parking lot of a local strip mall last year, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan announced Friday.

At about 4 p.m. on June 15, 2017, Elizabeth Police Department police responded to a strip mall on Routes 1 and 9 to find Masood unconscious and suffering from a severe head injury, according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office. Masood was taken to University Hospital in Newark for emergency treatment, but never regained consciousness.

He was pronounced dead at approximately 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 3, the prosecutor's office said.

Authorities say John struck Masood numerous times through his livery cab’s open driver’s-side car door window, attempting to pull him out of the car, and struck him with the vehicle’s door. Masood got out of his vehicle and went to take a photo of John’s rear license plate with his cell phone camera "at which time John threw his BMW two-door coupe in reverse, striking Masood and throwing him to the ground," the prosecutor's office said.

John admitted at trial he left the scene without checking on Masood or calling for help, the prosecutor's office said.

According to a report by NJ.com, John testified he'd initially gone over to Masood to apologize and see if there was any damage to his car, but Masood kept yelling at him. The two exchanged profanities before Masood called John a racial slur, the report recounts John saying.

John said that's when he smacked and then punched Masood. John testified that when he got back in his BMW, Masood got behind his car, and he backed up, hitting him. John admitted leaving Masood there, but John said he expected Masood to "dust himself off."

John is set to be sentenced in January.

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