An off-duty New Jersey cop fatally struck a nurse while driving. His actions after the crash shock the victim’s loved ones.
Louis Santiago, a New Jersey police officer who was off-duty, is accused of loading Damian Dymka's body into his car and taking it home.A silver Honda Accord zoomed past exit 150 on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey just before 3 a.m. The driver was an off-duty Newark police officer, Louis Santiago. His cousin Albert Guzman was in the passenger seat.
He’s now facing 12 felony charges, including reckless vehicular homicide and endangering an injured victim. Guzman and Santiago’s mother were also charged with allegedly tampering with evidence, and other offenses. It was fitting that he worked as a nurse, spending his days helping people who were elderly or infirm at a county-run facility in northern New Jersey.He had developed an itch to travel, and his boyfriend felt the same way. So they hatched a plan: They would both pursue bachelor of science degrees in order to become travel nurses, a job that would give them the freedom to move away from New Jersey and explore the U.S.
After work that Sunday, Santiago drove to a bar in his hometown of Bloomfield to watch the Dallas Cowboys game, said Toscano, his lawyer. With Guzman in the passenger seat and Dymka’s body in the back, Santiago then drove to the home he shares with his parents, prosecutors said. Policing experts said it was curious that the troopers did not give Santiago a Breathalyzer test on the scene. Had they done so, and had Santiago failed, he may have been arrested on the spot.
Toscano, Santiago’s lawyer, said the narrative released by prosecutors misconstrues Santiago’s actions that day. Santiago drove home with the body not to cover up the crime, Toscano said, but to speak with his father about what to do next. The lawyer couldn’t say why Santiago didn’t just call his father again.Santiago’s father had already left for the accident scene by the time the son returned home, Toscano said. The father had contacted his son’s boss, Newark Chief of Police Lee Douglas, who also showed up at the crash site, Toscano said.
He was also hit with nine nonindictable offenses, including DWI and illegal window tinting, according to the prosecutor’s office.The Newark Police Department suspended Santiago, his lawyer said. A department spokesperson declined to comment. “These are good people,” Toscano said, before referring specifically to Santiago. “He speaks about the victim all the time. He speaks about the victim more than the charges against him.”