Traffic & Transit
Newark Police Make Arrest After Girl Injured In Hit-And-Run (Updated)
A car hit a child and drove away. Police have arrested a Newark man in connection with the incident, authorities said.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Police in Newark have made an arrest after a driver hit a child with their car and drove away last week, authorities announced Tuesday.
According to police, the hit-and-run happened around 6 p.m. on Friday at Springfield Avenue and Bergen Street. Police said a vehicle drove through a red light at the intersection and struck a girl while she was in the crosswalk. The driver then drove away westbound on Springfield Avenue toward Fairmount Avenue.
Here’s what happened next, authorities said:
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“A police officer responded to the scene after being flagged down by a motorist. When the officer arrived, the girl was laying down in the street with a head injury and multiple lacerations to her hands. The officer assessed the child’s condition and called Emergency Medical Services, which rendered aid and transported her to University Hospital for treatment.”
Newark police initially identified the vehicle as a grey, 2013 BMW X5 with a Pennsylvania license plate. However, police identified the vehicle as a 2001 BMW X5 with a New Jersey license plate in an update later Monday evening.
On Tuesday, Newark police announced that officers arrested Jimmy Jones, 51, of Newark, in connection with a hit-and-run incident.
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According to the Newark Department of Public Safety:
"Detectives investigating this incident observed the vehicle on the city’s surveillance camera in the area of Hayes Street and 15th Avenue and recorded the suspect vehicle’s NJ registration number, which led them to the registered owner, a friend of Jones. On the day of the incident, and after police contacted the vehicle’s owner, Jones turned himself in to police. The vehicle was also found abandoned by NJ State Police on the NJ Turnpike on the same day of the incident."
Jones was charged with aggravated assault by auto, leaving the scene of an accident and endangering an injured person, authorities said.
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