Man Fled Lakewood Crash That Killed His Passenger: Prosecutor

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A Lakewood man is being held in jail after he ran from a crash that kills his passenger, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Angel A. Garcia-Rodriguez, 26, has been charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash resulting in a death and endangering an injured victim, in the crash that happened early Saturday in Lakewood, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The crash on James Street was reported at about 2:25 a.m., Billhimer said. Lakewood police found a 2007 Honda Civic that had hit a utility pole, he said, and the driver had left the crash site, he said.

The male passenger, who was critically injured, was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he succumbed to his injuries, Billhimer said.

The prosecutor's office did not release his identity.

Investigators determined the Honda Civic was traveling west on James Street when it lost directional control and hit the utility pole on the passenger side door, and they were able to find Garcia-Rodriguez was driving the car at the time of the crash and had fled before police arrived, Billhimer said.

Garcia-Rodriguez was ultimately found at a residence in Lakewood and arrested without incident, the prosecutor said.

He was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, where a court-authorized sample of his blood was taken, and then he was taken to the Ocean County Jail, where he is being held pending a detention hearing.

The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit, the Lakewood Township Police Department and its detective bureau; the Toms River Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit investigated.