Prosecutor: Officer Involved In Fatal Pedestrian Accident Will Not Face Charges

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) --  A New Jersey police officer who struck and killed a pedestrian in July will not face charges, authorities said.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced it's finished reviewing the investigation into the accident and found no grounds to file any criminal or motor vehicle charges against Lacey Township Police Officer Andrew Slota.

According to the investigation, Slota was driving at a high speed on Lacey Road while responding to a disturbance call at around 3 a.m. on July 5.

Slota was operating a marked police vehicle, but his lights and sirens weren't activated.

The officer saw the victim, 24-year-old Neil Van De Putte, crossing Lacey Road and swerved to avoid hitting him, but was unsuccessful.

Investigators say Van De Putte was intoxicated at the time of accident.

A friend who was with him told police he saw Officer Slota's cruiser approaching and decided it was too dangerous to cross.

The investigation included forensic analysis of the crash and the police cruiser's black boxes.

The prosecutor said the case will be now referred to the Lacey Township Police Chief so that he may conduct an internal review into whether any department policies were violated.