NJ Woman Sentenced For Killing Off-Duty Cop: Prosecutor

MAYS LANDING, NJ – A Mercer County woman was sentenced to over a decade in state prison after she pleaded guilty in the 2020 crash that killed an off-duty police officer in Atlantic County, authorities said.

Taquaysha M. Bell, 31, of Trenton, was sentenced Thursday to seven years in state prison for the June 19, 2020 crash that killed 53-year-old New Jersey Human Services Police Officer Michael Luko, Sr., according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.

Luko, Sr. was also a former Egg Harbor City police officer, officials said.

Bell was sentenced to an additional five years in state prison for an aggravated assault on another victim, Chanelle Morgan, who was a passenger in Bell’s vehicle during the crash.

Bell was driving west on White Horse Pike in Mays Landing when she crossed into the wrong lane and struck Luko, Sr., NJ.com reported.

Bell pleaded guilty in May to vehicular homicide and assault by auto with serious bodily injury, prosecutor’s office said. She will be required to serve 85 percent of the seven-year sentence before she will be eligible for parole.

Bell’s driver’s license will also be suspended for five years after her release from prison, the prosecutor’s office added.