A trailblazing Jersey City police officer hailed as hero for her actions at the Dec. 10, 2019 mass shooting was involved in a horrific, three-vehicle crash four months earlier, and a lawsuit stemming from the incident appears headed for trial after settlement talks broke down.
An attorney for one of the two women seriously injured in the Aug. 5, 2019 crash at Garfield Avenue-Danforth Avenue intersection say the consolidated lawsuit against Jersey City police Lt. Marjorie Jordan — the department’s first Black female lieutenant — and the city has been filled with “despicable” tactics that included false allegations and the withholding of key evidence by the city.
But after more than four years the suit by Khadijah Younger — represented by Joseph Siclari of the Patrick Patel law firm — and Crystal DeJesus is finally headed for resolution after an “embarrassing” settlement offer by the city was rejected, Siclari said.
Jersey City officials did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Less than a year after the mass shooting, Jordan was promoted to lieutenant.
Younger, now 31, suffered a shoulder injury, a torn rotator cuff and a loss of hearing in one ear. DeJesus, who is represented by Domhnall Ó’Catháin, suffered “serious and permanent injuries” that have caused her “considerable pain and suffering and economic loss,” the lawsuit said.
“What (the city has) done throughout the course of the entire proceedings is attempt to skirt liability,” Siclari said. “They just don’t want to be held accountable for their actions.”
Among his claims of the city’s “unethical” behavior surrounding the crash was moving violations brought against Younger for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, careless driving and for tinted windows, the withholding of evidence throughout the municipal court proceedings and a police crash report that he says was written in a way as to absolve Jordan of the blame.
In the crash report, Younger told police she did not see Jordan’s emergency lights or hear a siren, but DeJesus told police she saw the lights and heard the siren. Siclari said video from a nearby surveillance camera showed Jordan’s police vehicle within 40 feet of the intersection without its lights on while responding to what the internal affairs report called a “possible hostage situation.”
Jordan, who told police in the crash report her lights and siren were activated, admitted during a deposition she didn’t activate the emergency equipment until she was close to the intersection, Siclari said.
“The city persisted in the prosecution of a case that they knew to be false,” the attorney said, noting that a guilty plea or guilty verdict in the municipal court case would have been catastrophic to the civil case. All three charges against Younger were dismissed by a Union City Municipal Court judge March 1, 2023.
The crash report and damage to the vehicles show that Younger was nearly through the intersection when her vehicle’s rear quarter panel was struck, throwing her car into DeJesus’ vehicle. The impact of the crash activated Younger’s air bag, and that impact caused some hearing loss in one ear, Siclari said.
An internal affairs report found Jordan at fault for the crash, with mitigating circumstances. The crash was her fourth and it was the second time she was found at fault, the IA report said.
In February the city settled a lawsuit for $3 million in which a police officer responding to a call was driving on the wrong side of Jersey Avenue and struck a pedestrian trying to cross the street.
Ad Choices