N.J. cop gets 3 years for 2015 hit-and-run that left victim in coma

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
Follow on Twitter
on March 17, 2017 at 10:56 AM, updated March 17, 2017 at 12:04 PM

JERSEY CITY -- A Jersey City police officer will spend three years in prison and be forced to turn in his badge after being sentenced for leaving the scene of a 2015 accident in Weehawken that left a man in a coma. 

Patrolman Jermaine Gonzalez, 34, of Weehawken, was off duty when he struck Firas Natsheh, 43, of North Bergen, on Hackensack Plank Road on July 2, 2015. Natsheh, who remains in a coma to this day, was walking with traffic but was not on the sidewalk or within a crosswalk, police said. 

"The whole case was very tragic," said Gonzalez's attorney, John Lynch, today. "It was an accident that resulted in a man suffering serious injuries and he remains in a coma. On the other hand, because Jermaine left the scene, he forfeited his carrier as a police officer and is going to prison."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2017/03/post_885.html

Jersey City police officer in court on Weehawken hit-and-run charge

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal 
July 07, 2015 at  8:04 PM

A Jersey City police officer made his first court appearance today on charges he critically injured a man in an alleged hit-and-run on Thursday while off-duty in Weehawken.

Patrolman Jermaine Gonzalez, 32, of Weehawken, was out on a $5,000 bail when he appeared in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City after having turned himself in on Friday, a day after the incident on Hackensack Plank Road.

Gonzalez allegedly struck Firas Natsheh, 41, of North Bergen, while he was walking with traffic but was not on the sidewalk or within a crosswalk, police said. 

The officer has been suspended without pay and Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said that if found guilty of the charges, police would pursue departmental charges and termination.

Read more:  http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... court_on_weehawken_h.html