Police Arrest Man in Route 18 Hit-and-Run

An Edison man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a Sunday hit-and-run on Route 18 that killed a New Brunswick man.

Tarek Barakat, 19, of Edison was arrested at his home and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, hindering his apprehension and tampering with evidence, according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Alvaro Ortega Santiago, 41, of New Brunswick, was crossing Route 18 in the wee hours of Sunday morning when he was struck by a 2008 Honda Civic allegedly driven by Barakat.

Santiago was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:52 a.m. Sunday.

According to the release, Barakat fled the scene and failed the report the incident to police. He hid the vehicle in a storage facility.

Barakat was released after posting $75,000 bail, according to the report.

The investigation is being handled by the Prosecutor's Office and the New Brunswick Police Department.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Investigator Adrian Villegas of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-4428, or officer Hector Lugo of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5200.