'Good Samaritan' Was Driver That Hit Elderly Woman: Edison PD

EDISON, NJ — A 21-year-old Edison resident originally thought to be a "good Samaritan" has been charged after an investigation showed he was the one that hit an 86-year-old pedestrian, Edison police said.

The crash first looked like a hit-and-run, but upon further investigation it turned out that the driver, Yevhen Bogutskiy, 21, was actually one of two people who helped the elderly woman get medical attention, police said.

"We could not, in good conscience, charge Mr. Bogutskiy for hit-and-run driving. Our investigation shows he did not leave the scene. In fact, Mr. Bogutskiy was one of the two people who stopped to help this injured woman," Lt. Robert Dudash said. "Once we located him, he was cooperative.”

Bogutskiy is accused of hitting the elderly woman as she crossed Nevsky Street on the morning of May 1. According to police, the woman's family saw her laying on the street and thought she fell while walking. Because the family thought it was an accident and the two people helping her were good Samaritans, the family took the woman home without calling police.

“Family members were unaware that one of those good Samaritans at the scene was actually Mr.
Bogutskiy, who apparently stopped to render assistance to the victim,” Dudash said.

Only after doctors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital raise concerns did the family realize the woman had not just fallen. Doctors told the family that the woman's injuries, which include fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, and other internal injuries, were consistent with being hit by a car.

Bogutskiy has been charged with careless driving and failure to report an accident, police said.

The woman, who was initially in critical condition at the hospital, is now in serious but stable condition at a private aftercare facility, police said.