A Lawrence police officer was charged Thursday with lying in a police report and tampering with records during a criminal investigation last month, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Officer Andres Mejia submitted an arrest report to his superiors on Aug. 16 knowing it contained false and misleading information about a witness who did not exist, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He’s been suspended without pay.
The prosecutor’s office did not elaborate on the August case.
Two law enforcement sources did, alleging it was an Aug. 15 call to the Lawrence home of Irvin Hayes, who was later charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, Shamira Williams, on Aug. 25.
Williams was present during the Aug. 15 incident at Hayes' home. And detectives allege in court papers that the incident was the catalyst for Williams' murder.
The sources said Mejia mishandled the entire call and invented a witness who claimed the incident was not a domestic violence incident, when it may have been, then lied about it in his report.
In the affidavit of probable cause filed in support of the murder charge against Hayes, detectives wrote about the Aug. 15 call. In that document, detectives say that Hayes alleged Williams was the aggressor, was acting “crazy” and fled with his cell phone before police, which Hayes called, arrived.
Hayes was detained at his home Aug. 15 when officers realized he had a warrant for his arrest in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from a theft case in 2019. They took him to the Mercer County jail for his eventual extradition to Pennsylvania.
This angered Hayes, detectives said, because his grandmother was dying and he told officers that if she died while he was incarcerated, “they or someone was going to pay.”
Hayes' grandmother died on Aug. 19.
Hayes was eventually taken to the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania jail, and set free on the afternoon of Aug. 24. Williams was found slain in her Trenton home at about 6 a.m. Mercer County homicide detectives believe Hayes is the masked and gloved figure that enters the home at about 4:15 a.m. and leaves about 5:45 a.m.
Williams was later arrested by Ewing police on a theft charge. They did not find Hayes' phone, the affidavit says.
Mejia, 42, has been a police officer since 2006 and currently makes $114,000 annually, records show.
He was not arrested Thursday, but served with a summons charging him with unsworn falsification and tampering with records, both disorderly persons offenses.
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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.
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Cop charged with mishandling domestic call involving woman who was later killed, sources say - NJ.com
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