Driver Of Second Vehicle In Fatal Hudson County Crash Charged With Leaving Scene

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — A Bergen County man has been charged in connection with a crash that killed a pedestrian in North Bergen last Monday, prosecutors said.

Maximo Rodriguez, 24, of Fort Lee has been charged with one count of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision resulting in death, said the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office on Friday.

On Feb. 10, a North Bergen man, Nestor Naira-Ojeda, 52, was crossing the street in that town around 6 a.m., said police. He was struck by at least one vehicle, but prosecutors later said that two vehicles were involved in the crash.

The crash occurred at the corner of 91st Street and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, blocks from the Fairview border.

Hudson County prosecutors said that the driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee remained at the scene, but the other driver did not.

"Members of the North Bergen Police Department conducted the investigation and learned a second vehicle, a box truck, had been involved in the collision and did not remain at the scene," prosecutors said on Friday. "The Hudson County Regional Collision Investigation Unit then assumed control of the investigation and identified Rodriguez as the operator of the box truck."

As a result, Rodriguez was arrested at the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office in Secaucus last Thursday, prosecutors said.

He was released to await his first court appearance.