Washington Township police officer charged in hit-and-run

A Washington Township police officer has been charged in a hit-and-run accident last month that left a Camden County man in a coma.

Kelly Gunderson, 33, of Gloucester Township, turned herself in to state police Friday and was released after surrendering her driver's license.

She is accused of striking Vance Banks, 27, of Winslow, with her personal car around 1 a.m. Aug. 18, then fleeing. Banks was walking along Sicklerville Road in Winslow on his way home from his job as a security guard at an office park in Gloucester Township.

He suffered head trauma and remains in a coma at Cooper University Hospital.

Gunderson's attorney, John Eastlack Jr., said his client had no comment.

How Gunderson came to hit Banks is under investigation, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said.

The afternoon after the accident, Gunderson called Winslow police to report that she had been in a traffic incident the night before, according to police records.

She said she thought she had hit a deer, and had driven home. When she checked her car the next day, she said, she realized the damage didn't look as though it were caused by striking an animal.

Gunderson, an Air Force veteran who joined the Washington Township police in 2005, was suspended without pay Friday. She faces up to five years in prison.