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Evan F. D’Anjou, a student at Schalick High School in Pittsgrove, was a front-seat passenger in a car driven by Dane T. Pierce, 16, at the time of the May 2022 wreck, as previously reported by Daily Voice. Pierce blew the stop sign and went airborne before striking a tree in a park in Pittsgrove, New Jersey State Police have said.
The car was traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Daily Voice. The statement from New Jersey State Police also says that Pierce tested positive for THC.
Meanwhile, Evan's mother, Jennifer D'Anjou, on Feb. 14, 2024 filed a lawsuit in Salem County Superior Court that names Pittsgrove Township and Salem County as co-defendants. The suit also names the adjoining property owners where the stop sign is located: McKishen Road at the T-intersection with Buck Road.
Pierce was indicted by a grand jury in November on first-degree aggravated manslaughter and second-degree reckless vehicular homicide charges, according to the Salem County Prosecutor's Office. He is due to appear in court on March 25.
Pierce’s mother, Tisha M. Gargon, 52, of Pittsgrove, is accused of loaning the car to her unlicensed son, and was indicted by a grand jury in November on a charge of violation of public health and safety law resulting in death. according to the prosecutor's office. She is due to appear in court on April 12.
"Plaintiff Evan F. D’Anjou needlessly and consciously suffered painful bodily injuries that eventually led to his wrongful death," the lawsuit says.
"Dane T. Pierce and his passenger Evan D’Anjou were denied the ability to see the obscured stop sign resulting in Mr. Pierce driving his vehicle completely through the T intersection and into Deer Pen Park before striking a tree and killing Evan F. D’Anjou," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says the township and county were negligent in failing to identify the problem and remove overgrown shrubs and trees from the stop sign on public property.
The lawsuit adds: "The obstruction was so bad, that the stop sign has been pulled to the left in a futile attempt to make it visible to on-coming traffic."
"The inability for on-coming motorists to see the stop sign located on McKishen Road at the intersection of Buck Road created a dangerous and unsafe condition of public property," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also says that Pittsgrove Township "had actual and/or constructive notice of the dangerous condition as it maintains the roadway, its police force patrols that roadway, and the condition existed for such a length of time that Pittsgrove Township employees would have had to have seen it in the normal course of business."
The lawsuit adds that Salem County "owned, occupied, maintained, and/or controlled Buck Road and the property and stop sign located at the intersection of Buck Road and McKishen Road in Pittsgrove Township."
"Salem County had a duty to inspect and maintain the roadways that it owns, including all stop signs and adjacent vegetation, in a reasonably safe condition," the lawsuit says.
Officials from Pittsgrove Township and Salem County government said they do not comment on pending litigation.
A lawyer for Jennifer D'Anjou, Louis J. DeVoto of Cherry Hill, did not return calls for comment.
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