Hit-And-Run Kills Pedestrian In Essex County; Victim Was In Crosswalk, Cops Say

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A Belleville man has been charged with multiple crimes after a hit-and-run crash killed a pedestrian at a crosswalk in Newark last weekend.

The crash happened Sunday around 7:45 p.m. on McCarter Highway (Route 21), according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Newark Department of Public Safety.

The victim – James Edward Kolla, 62, of Newark – was walking through a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Edison Place as the traffic light was turning green. A black pickup truck hit Kolla, knocking him onto the roadway, authorities said.

The truck then fled the scene onto Market Street, prosecutors said.

Kolla was transported to University Hospital in Newark and pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m.

The alleged driver, Mickael Esteban Barrionuevo Medina, 28, of Belleville, later surrendered himself to Newark police.

Medina has been charged with second-degree leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and third-degree endangering an injured victim.

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