A Jersey City duo, one male and one female, were arrested for their roles in a March hit-and-run where they tried to cover up the accident despite sending a woman to the hospital, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced.Â
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
On Sunday, March 18th, at approximately 8:15 p.m., the Jersey City Police Department received a report of a pedestrian struck at Boyd and West Side Avenues in Jersey City, Suarez said in a statement.
Responding officers found a female pedestrian had been struck by a motor vehicle at that location. The pedestrian was transported by Emergency Medical Services to Jersey City Medical Center where she was treated for multiple injuries, authorities said.
The investigation found that the pedestrian had been struck by a 2017 Jeep that left the scene of the accident. Upon locating the vehicle, investigators found that the damage had recently been repaired in an attempt to conceal that it was involved in a collision, officials said.
Then, on April 19th, at approximately 3:35 p.m., Julius Smith, 39, of Jersey City, turned
himself in without incident to members of the Fatal Collision Unit at the Hudson County
Prosecutor’s Office, police said.
He was transported to the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny following his arrest.
Smith was charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in serious bodily injury, hindering apprehension or prosecution by way of concealment or destruction of evidence in and tampering with physical evidence, authorities said.
On the same day, several hours earlier – approximately 8:45 a.m. – Shakira Stuckey, 38, of Jersey City, was arrested without incident by members of the Fatal Collision Unit on Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City, officials said.
She was released on her own recognizance with her first appearance scheduled for 10 a.m. on May 8, 2019 in Central Judicial Processing Court in Jersey City.
Stuckey was charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution by way of concealment or
destruction of evidence and tampering with physical evidence, police said.
Suarez also credited the Hudson County Regional Fatal Collision Unit for the arrest, and
the Jersey City Police Department for assisting with the investigation.
