Officer Pulls Over Couple Minutes before Fatal Crash

Описание: Around 1:49 AM on August 4, 2021, Officer Jon Nunez with the North Bergen Police Department stopped a 2022 Kia Stinger at 61st Street and Kennedy Boulevard for excessive speeding and reckless driving. He made contact with driver and his passenger, who were identified as 24-year-old Luis Fernando Cevallos and 27-year-old Alexis Rodriguez. Alexis told the officer that they were on their first date, and she blamed herself for his reckless driving because she was in a rush to get home. Officer Nunez reassured Alexis that it was not her fault and issued Luis 3 citations for reckless driving, failure to observe a flashing traffic signal, and violation of restrictions on a provisional license. Before letting him drive away, Officer Nunez reminded Luis to drive responsibly to avoid a fatal accident. The traffic stop was cleared around 2:02 AM.

Around 2:13 AM, Officer Jessica Toro transmitted over the police radio a motor vehicle accident involving a tractor trailer on Route 1-9 and 36th Street, and Officer Nunez (the same officer) responded. As he approached the scene of the accident, he observed the same vehicle that he had just stopped a few minutes earlier. The occupants of the Kia Stinger appeared lifeless and he immediately called for a crash team to investigate a fatal accident. While it was apparent that the driver was Luis Fernando Cevallos, Officer Kevin Rodriguez looked through Alexis Rodriguez’s purse to determine her identity because Officer Nunez had not asked Alexis for her identification during the traffic stop.

Sergeant Schubert, Sergeant Yousef, Officer Rodriguez, Officer Perez, Officer Vitali, and Officer Sloan arrived on scene shortly afterwards. ALS Unit 476 and North Bergen EMS South also arrived on scene. Both the driver and occupant of the vehicle were pronounced deceased on scene by a doctor at 2:26 AM. After they were pronounced deceased, Sergeant Tattoli contacted both the North Arlington Police and the Bergenfield Police to make Next of Kin notifications.

As Officer Nunez proceeded to collect documentation from the truck driver and get his account of what happened, he told Officer Nunez that he was backing into 36th Street to make a delivery at the loading dock of Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors. As he was backing in, the Kia Stinger which was traveling southbound struck his tractor trailer at an excessive rate of speed. Officer Vitali eventually transported the truck driver to police headquarters so he could provide them with a voluntary statement.

Sergeant Tattoli informed the Hudson County Medical Examiner’s Office about the fatal accident. Around 2:45 AM, Detective Mena arrived along with Officer Suarez to conduct their investigation. Sergeant Ragland from the Hudson County Prosecutors Collision Unit arrived on scene at 3:37 AM. An investigator from the Medical Examiner’s Office arrived at 5:35 AM and they removed both the remains at 6:10 AM. The Kia Stinger was towed from the scene at 6:30 AM and the roadway was back in service by 6:45 AM.

At 1:00 PM, Detective Mena returned to Tumino’s Towing with Secaucus Police Lieutenant Martin Moreda, a member of the Hudson County Regional Crash Team. They removed the EDR (event data recorder) from the Kia Stinger and Lieutenant Moreda had the information downloaded. By 7:00 PM, Lieutenant Moreda determined that 5 seconds prior to impact, the Kia Stinger was traveling at 124 MPH (181.784 feet per second). At the moment of impact, the Kia Stinger was traveling at 68 MPH (99.688 feet per second). On August 24, 2021, Detective Mena concluded his investigation and determined that if the driver had been driving at the posted speed limit instead of 124 MPH, this fatal accident would not have happened.
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