Death by Auto Charge in 6-Year-Old Boy's Death

Highland Park, NJ - Charges have been upgraded to death by auto for a Piscataway man whose car jumped a curb Saturday in Highland Park, striking a mother and child. The child, 6, was killed.

One count of death by auto was filed against Shang Zhen Huang, 21, of Piscataway Wednesday, Highland Park police and the Middlesex County prosecutor announced.

Previously, Huang was charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

Huang was driving his 2013 Lexus north on Raritan Avenue near the Columbia Street intersection when his car jumped the curb and he hit the two at 3:10 p.m. on January 16, police said.

The mother and son were reportedly walking home from synagogue, Agudath Israel of Edison. The mother, 37-year-old Rochie Kraus, was hospitalized and remains in critical condition. The boy, however, little 6-year-old Chaim Kraus, was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Huang was arrested Saturday and has remained in jail since then. His bail is set at $200,000 with no 10% option.