A man who used to live in Bergen County has been charged with a 2021 Route 7 crash in Kearny that badly injured two passengers, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Daniel Leal Jr., 22, of Meriden, Connecticut, is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of assault by auto while driving under the influence (resulting in serious bodily injury, assault by auto while DUI (resulting in bodily injury), and unlawful possession of a weapon, Suarez said in a statement.
He was arrested at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in Secaucus and transported to the Hudson County Correction Facility pending his first court appearance.
At approximately 4:08 a.m. on Tuesday, October 19th, 2021, members of the Kearny Police Department responded to the area of Route 7 and the Harrison Avenue split on reports of a vehicle that crashed into a parked tractor trailer.
All four occupants of the car were transported to University Hospital in Newark.
Two passengers, a 19-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man, both of Passaic, were critically injured.
Leal, who was a resident of Garfield at the time of the collision, and a second 20-year-old Passaic man suffered injuries that were not considered life threatening.
The investigation found Leal was under the influence when he was traveling west on Route 7 in a 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer and collided with a tractor trailer that was parked on the side of the road.
Following a court authorized search of the vehicle, a revolver was found in the trunk of the vehicle.
Suarez credited the Hudson County Regional Collision Investigation Unit and the Kearny Police Department with the investigation and arrest.
