Driver Disputes Allegations in Hit-and-Run Accident

A Mahwah woman is disputing witness accounts that claim she was drunk when she struck an Upper Saddle River man who was trying to prevent her from leaving a Ridgewood gas station.

According to the police report, two witnesses said they tried to stop Stefanie Pennachio, 41, of Mahwah, from exiting the Exxon on the Run service station on Rt. 17 in Ridgewood Monday night. One Ridgewood man, per the report, said Pennachio had sipped from a small vodka bottle and appeared drunk before the accident. Her young son was in the car at the time.

Pennachio told Patch on Saturday that the bottle in question was actually an herbal supplement, and she had not consumed any alcohol.

A vodka bottle, entered into police evidence, was not hers, she claims. Further, Pennachio said, the two men, from Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River, were "harassing and threatening" her while preventing her from leaving. Asked why the strangers would allegedly do such a thing, Pennachio said she didn't know but felt her and her son's lives were in danger. She said her car door struck the Ridgewood man's vehicle when she exited the car to purchase a bottle of water, apparently angering the villager. 

"I backed up because my son was so terrified of these people," she told Patch. "I didn't even know I hit him. There was nothing that made me think I hit him."

The Upper Saddle River man refused medical attention but complained of hip pain.

Pennachio was issued citations for leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, and reckless driving.

She claims she reported her account of the incident to Ridgewood police the following morning but was denied an opportunity to make a complaint.

Pennachio said she was later advised by an attorney not to make any further statements to police.