Quote:

?? Since when, (or where) does Duncan intersect with Ocean?

Go JJ

Three hit-and-runs over the weekend

Monday, October 01, 2007
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Three pedestrians were injured in hit-and-run accidents in Jersey City this weekend, including a 12-year-old girl who reportedly asked the off-duty cop who came to her aid if she was dead.

An off-duty cop who witnessed the first accident Saturday around 6:10 p.m. rushed to the aid of the 12-year-old girl, who was hit by a speeding car and thrown at least 50 feet and landed against a parked car, witnesses said.

The off-duty cop said the little girl, lying face down in the street and bleeding from her head, asked him if she "was dead," reports said.

She was in stable condition last night at the Jersey City Medical Center.

The Kia Sportage that hit her stopped in the middle of the street, and three people got out and ran away, cops said.

Later that night, Mario Cortez, 24, of Kennedy Boulevard in Bayonne, surrendered at the North District police station and told police he was the driver.

He was charged with endangering an injured victim and leaving the scene of an accident, reports said.

The owner of the vehicle, a Newark resident, said Cortez was a family friend who had borrowed the car without permission.

A second hit-and-run was reported around 10:35 p.m. Saturday on Bergen Avenue near Bostwick Avenue, reports said, leaving a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries.

Police investigating the accident found a large pool of blood and a tooth in the street, about 20 feet south of the crosswalk at Bostwick Avenue where the victim's baseball cap was found, police said.

A witness said he was sitting on the steps of a Bergen Avenue home when he heard a loud "boom." Right after hearing the noise, he saw a dark blue or dark green Jeep speeding south on Bergen Avenue, reports said.

He then saw the victim in the street.

The victim is in stable but serious condition at the Jersey City Medical Center and is being treated for a fractured jaw and trauma to the chest and pelvis, reports said.

The third accident was reported yesterday morning, when a 42-year-old homeless man rolling down the middle of Duncan Avenue was knocked out of his wheelchair by a white Nissan sedan, police reports said.

The man was traveling east down the yellow dividing line on Duncan Avenue near the junction with Ocean Avenue about 6:45 a.m. when he was struck from behind and knocked out of his wheelchairby a white Nissan sedan which then fled the scene, witnesses told police.

The man was taken to Christ Hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries, reports said.

Anyone with information should call (201) 547-JAIL.