Man Indicted For Role In Fatal Police Chase That Killed One, Injured Two In Union County

ELIZABETH, NJ — A truck driver who led police on a vehicle pursuit that ended in a fatal crash in Elizabeth earlier this year was indicted, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Thursday.

The nine-count indictment was returned against Danny Clyde Williams, 57, a.k.a. Danny Clyde Burnam, who has known addresses in California and Colorado.

He is charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular homicide, two counts of second-degree aggravated assault, four counts of second-degree eluding police, and a single count of third-degree aggravated assault.

Williams was driving a Freightliner cab-style commercial tractor in the area of First Street and Elizabeth Avenue when he first struck a vehicle at approximately midnight on July 9, according to the investigation.

The uninjured driver of the struck vehicle reportedly attempted to get Williams to stop, but instead he headed northwest on Elizabeth Avenue.

An off-duty Union County Police Department officer spotted Williams driving erratically, near the intersection of North Broad Street and Elizabeth Avenue, and also tried to stop him. The officer fired a single round from his service weapon.

Williams reportedly sped off at a high rate of speed on North Broad Street, where he struck multiple parked and moving vehicles.

Then as Williams approached a barricade set up by police in the area of North Broad Street and Parker Road, two Elizabeth Police Department officers also fired their service weapons multiple times, striking Williams.

Yet Williams drove through the barricade, and approximately one half-mile north of that area, near the intersection of North Avenue and Newark Avenue, he crashed head-on with another vehicle, killing an adult male passenger, 24-year-old Elizabeth resident Jeffrey Oakley, and injuring the two other occupants of the vehicle, according to police.

Williams could face 10 to 30 years in state prison on the first-degree manslaughter charges and 5 to 10 yearsfor the second-degree crimes.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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