Teen 'Recklessly' Causes Injury, Impersonates Officer In Bergen County: Police

CRESSKILL, NJ — An 18-year-old Cresskill High School graduate was charged in connection with a Monday crash just after midnight on U.S. Route 9W that left five juvenile victims hospitalized with serious injuries, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.

An investigation revealed that the recent graduate, Luke Stein, "intentionally" hit the back of a Honda Pilot, which was driven by one of the victims and occupied by four others, on two occasions as they were traveling along the highway, Musella said.

The victim reported that another vehicle had rammed him as he was driving, causing him to accelerate to get away. His Honda apparently left the road and ended up in the woods near the entrance to the Montammy Golf Club in Alpine, a probable cause affidavit said. He told police that he had just left a house party because someone had a gun.

Among the injuries suffered by the driver and the four passengers were broken femurs, spinal and rib fractures, and facial and head lacerations, the affidavit said. Both the Honda, and Stein's Jeep Grand Cherokee, according to witness statements, were driving in excess of 100 miles per hour.

At one point, while stopped at a red light, Stein activated emergency lights that were affixed to his vehicle because he is a volunteer firefighter, and the Honda began to pull over. It was then that Stein struck the back of the victim's vehicle, as stated in official records.

Stein then followed the victims' vehicle before driving away; he reportedly did not see the Honda crash near the Montammy Golf Club, the affidavit said. He was headed home when he received an alert on his firefighter pager to respond to the club on report of a crash, and he then returned to the scene with emergency personnel.

Stein's Jeep was found in his Cresskill driveway with front-end damage, and he was later found and arrested in Colorado the same day by University of Colorado Boulder police, records show.

It is unclear how Stein arrived in Colorado. A request for clarification to the prosecutor's office was not immediately returned.

Stein is charged with five counts of second-degree aggravated assault, and fourth- degree impersonating a law enforcement officer. He is lodged at the Boulder County Jail in Colorado, pending extradition to Bergen County.

A criminal complaint said that Stein "recklessly caused serious injury" to the juvenile victims, and "falsely pretended" to be a law enforcement officer with purpose to induce another to submit to such pretended official authority.