October 15,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Fair Lawn NJ, Fair lawn Police arrested two men in connection with a hit-and-run reported at 3:14 a.m. on Saturday. Officers responded to a report of a pedestrian hit by a car on Plaza Road at Fair Lawn Avenue. The Police found a 29-year-old Park Ridge man on the ground with what police described as significant lower body injuries.
Witnesses reportedly told the police they were crossing Plaza Road at High Street when a blue 2006 Volkswagen Jetta almost hit them. When the Volkswagen stopped for a red light while traveling south on Fair Lawn Avenue, the group approached the vehicle and a fight ensued. A passenger from the vehicle pushed the Park Ridge man to the ground and got back inside the car, at which point he was run over, the vehicle then sped away.
The Police reported that the investigating officers found the occupants from the Volkswagen in another car parked in front of the Wells Fargo Bank at 22-11 Fair Lawn Avenue. As officers approached the vehicle, the driver attempted to flee. The officers were forced to stop the vehicle at gunpoint and arrested the driver, David Rodriguez, 21, of Fair Lawn, and a passenger, Danial Dushaj, 21, of Dix Hills, New York, when he did not comply with officers’ commands, police said.
According to police the blue 2006 Volkswagen Jetta was later recovered at Rodriguez’s residence on Hartley Place and impounded.
The victim was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson.
Rodriguez faces charges of second degree aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of an injured person, leaving the scene of a crash with an injury, failure to report a crash, reckless driving, careless driving, two counts of failure to produce vehicle documents and failure to inspect. Rodriguez was expected to be sent to the Bergen County Jail.
Subsequent to the arrest, officers found marijuana on Dushaj’s person, police said. Dushaj was charged with obstruction of justice and drug possession, police said. Officers released him pending a court appearance.
