Driver who fatally struck 12-year-old N.J. girl, her dog facing charges, police say
An SUV driver accused of fatally striking a 12-year-old girl and her dog[1] as they were crossing a West Windsor road last month was charged Friday, police said.
An investigation found that the girl, Ananta Ahuja and the dog, were in the crosswalk near the corner of Rabbit Hill Road and Abbington Lane and had already made it past one side of the road when they were hit by the SUV just after 5:30 p.m. on Nov.
27, according to a statement from the West Windsor Police Department.
The driver, Iftekhar Hossain, 65, of West Windsor, knowingly left the scene of the crash and failed to report it, but did return about 10 minutes later, the department said.
“Investigation found that Mr. Hossain had operated his vehicle without due caution and circumspection, and that he failed to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk,” West Windsor Police Lt. Jeffrey Lai said in a statement.
However, Hossain was neither speeding nor using a cell phone at the time of the crash, Lai said.
He was arrested Friday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and numerous motor vehicle offenses including motorist hitting domestic animal to stop, careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, police said.
He was taken to Mercer County Correction Center pending his detention hearing.
Ananta was a 7th grader at Community Middle School, West Windsor-Plainsboro school officials said.
“Our condolences go out to her family and friends,” Superintendent David Aderhold said in a letter to the school community following the deadly crash.
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at [email protected].[3]
References
- ^ fatally striking a 12-year-old girl and her dog (www.nj.com)
- ^ NJ.com (www.nj.com)
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