Bergen County Man Surrenders in Connection with Bergenfield Hit-and-Run

A Bergen County man was arrested after the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office asked the public’s help in identifying a driver involved in a hit-and-run last week.

Daniel Dawkins, 63, of Teaneck, was arrested in connection with a Jan. 15 hit-and-run that injured a 32-year-old Bergenfield man, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.

Bergenfield Police received a call just before 8 p.m. on Jan. 15 “reporting that a person had been struck by a motor vehicle in the roadway in the area of 52 Woodbine Street [in] Bergenfield,” according to Molinelli. Officers found the victim, Brian Gilligan, lying in the northbound lane of Woodbine Street, with “injuries consistent with having been struck by a motor vehicle.”

An investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Investigation Unit (FAIU) and the Bergenfield Police Department determined Gilligan was struck “by a motor vehicle as he stood in the northbound lane of travel, attempting to stop traffic to allow a truck to exit a nearby business.” The vehicle involved was driving north on Woodbine Street at the time of the collision and fled.

Gilligan was transported to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was treated for serious injuries.

Accompanied by his attorney, Dawkins surrendered at the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office on Jan. 19 and an examination of his vehicle, a 1998 Volvo S70 sedan, and a comparison between it and parts recovered from the scene, revealed that it was the vehicle that had struck Gilligan, Molinelli said.

Dawkins was charged with one count of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury, though according to Molinelli, the investigation is ongoing and it is expected that further charges, including motor vehicle violations, will be filed.

Dawkins was issued a criminal complaint summons and was released pending his first appearance in Bergenfield Municipal Court at 4 p.m. on Jan. 28.