Disturbing footage has surfaced showing two women from New Jersey who were fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday while returning home from a World Cup viewing party.
Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltrán, 58, and Maria Isabel DeLos Angeles Salgado Ayala, 61, were crossing the intersection at Park Avenue and North 7th Street in Newark when they were hit. This information was confirmed by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The 26-year-old David J. Zapata-Vera was caught on street surveillance video speeding through the intersection and colliding with the women, causing them to be thrown into the air. The footage was obtained from a local news source.
A witness recounted that Zapata-Vera accelerated during the light change, plowing through the crosswalk. “I can’t say if he was intoxicated, but he hit the gas and that’s what happened,” Manuel Candelaria shared with the outlet.
Both women were quickly taken to Newark University Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Family members of the victims were left devastated by their losses. “You’ll have to live with this for the rest of your life. I hope they find that person, but that’s a burden they will carry forever, based on their conscience,” Jeffrey Chacon, a cousin of Beltrán, said in an interview.
He also mentioned how his father is coping by reaching out to family members in Ecuador.
Zapata-Vera turned himself in to the authorities on Tuesday, three days after the incident. He faces multiple charges, including two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, as well as two counts of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and two counts of third-degree murder for endangering an injured victim.
Currently, Zapata-Vera is being held without bail at the Essex County Jail, according to jail records.
