New Jersey

NJ AG releases bodycam footage after Waterford Twp. officer hits, kills pedestrian

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office has released a radio recording and bodycam footage as an investigation continues after a police officer struck and killed a 44-year-old Berlin man on Nov. 23, 2023

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Body camera footage released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office shows the police response to a deadly Atco, New Jersey, crash in November 2023.

The body camera video opens with the view of a broken windshield as a hand grips a steering wheel of a police cruiser driving along a roadway on November, 23, 2023.

Police lights reflect off trees as the vehicle moves along the roadway, light shimmering across the shattered section of the windshield.

The footage begins, according to the office of New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, after Waterford Township Police Sergeant Richard Sbarra struck and killed pedestrian, Christofe “Christopher” Wita, 44, of Berlin, in an incident that happened along White Horse Pike in Atco on Thanksgiving, last year.

Sbarra's bodycam footage shows the sergeant maneuver his police cruiser along the roadway in near silence before he stops near the location where Wita lay on the roadway.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office released body camera footage of the aftermath of an incident in which a Waterford Township Police officer struck and killed a Camden County man in Atco, New Jersey, back on Nov. 23, 2023.

The Attorney General's Office has not said just how long after the incident happened that the recording begins.

The video also doesn't show the incident itself, nor does it show if Sbarra checked on Wita's condition immediately after the crash.

Instead, it opens after the crash to show Sbarra driving his already damaged cruiser at about 2:10 a.m.

It shows him maneuver the vehicle a bit before Sbarra stops and radios in to report the crash before exiting his vehicle and shuffling through some equipment in his trunk at about 2:13 a.m.

Sbarra then waited until another officer arrived on scene before eventually heading to check on Wita, as the 44-year-old laid in the roadway.

In the footage, Wita -- whose image is blurred -- didn't appear to make any movements as Sbarra and two other officers approach him just before the video ends.

The video doesn't show the officers performing any type of life-saving procedures on Wita.

Wita was pronounced at the scene at about 2:19 a.m. that evening.

The newly released footage is part of a package of information that the Attorney General's Office has released as part of its investigation into the incident.

Along with the bodycam footage, the attorney general's office also shared a recording of radio chatter from that evening as well.

These recordings are available for the public to review, here.

This newly released information is part of an investigation into the deadly crash by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. The release of these materials, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement, was intended to "promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters."

According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office, on the night of the crash, Sbarra was on-duty and was driving a department vehicle when he struck Wita.

Officials have not yet said what caused Sbarra to strike Wita.

This material has been shared with Wita's family and, the Attorney General's Office said an investigation is ongoing.

Contacted Wednesday, the Waterford Township Police Department did not immediately respond to a call for comment on this investigation.

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