Traffic & Transit

NJ Man Charged After Hit-And-Run Killed Caldwell Pedestrian: ECPO

A car hit a woman near a bus stop and left the scene. Another driver also hit her – but stayed until police arrived, prosecutors said.

CALDWELLS, NJ — A West Caldwell resident has been accused of striking a pedestrian in Caldwell with his car and driving away, prosecutors announced Monday.

The fatality took place on the 400-block of Bloomfield Avenue around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, authorities said.

Caldwell police officers arrived at the scene to find Sharon Thomas, 56, of Caldwell, unconscious in the roadway. Thomas was transported to Mountainside Hospital in Montclair and pronounced deceased at 7:22 p.m.

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Witnesses told police that a vehicle hit Thomas after she exited a NJ Transit bus and was crossing Bloomfield Avenue. The driver – later identified as Angelo Lotrecchiano, 82, of West Caldwell – allegedly stopped and got out of the car, then got back in the vehicle and left the scene, prosecutors said.

A second vehicle then struck Thomas while she was still in the roadway. That driver pulled over and remained at the scene until police arrived, prosecutors said.

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Lotrecchiano has been charged with second-degree leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and third-degree endangering an injured victim, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Monday.

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