A tragic hit-and-run incident in New Jersey left two women dead as they returned home from a World Cup viewing party on Saturday night, as captured by distressing video footage.
The victims, identified as 58-year-old Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltran and 61-year-old Maria Isabel DeLosAngeles Salgado Ayala, were crossing at the intersection of Park Avenue and North 7th Street in Newark when they were violently hit by an oncoming vehicle, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Surveillance footage from the scene revealed that 26-year-old David J. Zapata-Vera was driving the vehicle that plowed through the intersection, striking Beltran and Ayala with such force that they were thrown into the air, as reported by WABC.
Witnesses claimed that Zapata-Vera accelerated just as the traffic light was about to change, contributing to the tragic collision in the crosswalk.
“I don’t know if he was drunk, but he pressed the gas, and that’s what happened,” Manuel Candelaria told the news outlet.
The women were rushed to University Hospital Newark, where they were pronounced dead.
Relatives of the women were left traumatized by their deaths.
“You have to live with this for the rest of your life. I hope the person is found but also for that person it’s something you have to live with for the rest of your life, it’s on your conscience,” Beltran’s cousin, Jeffrey Chacon, told WABC.
“My dad is managing his emotions with trying to contact everyone in Ecuador, her sisters, her son,” he added.
Zapata-Vera, of Newark, surrendered to police on Tuesday, three days after the deadly crash.
He was charged with two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, two counts of second-degree leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death, and two counts of third-degree endangering an injured victim.
Zapata-Vera is being held in Essex County jail without bond, according to jail records viewed by The Post.