When someone is arrested and charged with a crime in New Jersey, police departments observe a protocol that includes the reading of Miranda Rights.
A 26-year-old New York man was arrested after he severely injured two women while fleeing from police in his car in Montvale early Friday morning, court documents show.
William Schaeffer of Monsey, New York, was doing doughnuts in his BMW sedan in the parking lot of the Montvale Service Area off the Garden State Parkway shortly before 12:50 a.m. when a borough police officer turned on his police lights, prompting Schaeffer to speed away, an affidavit of probable cause shows.
William Schaeffer, 26, of Monsey, NY faces two aggravated assault charges after injuring two women with his car while fleeing from police, court documents show. (Photo: Courtesy of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office)
As Schaeffer sped through the lot, he drove down a one-way section of the parking lot in the wrong direction and struck the two 19-year-old women, the affidavit said, causing a severe head injury to one of the women.
State police responded to the scene, where “several” witnesses provided a description of Schaeffer, corroborated the description of the vehicle he was driving and said they saw the man hit the two women, according to the affidavit.
One witness told police that he recognized Schaeffer and the car from previous car meetups and provided police with YouTube videos in which the full license plate of the car could be seen, the court documents said. Additional witnesses also provided police with an Instagram profile that police determined belonged to Schaeffer, although police were told that the profile was deleted as they were investigating, the affidavit said.
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The woman who was more seriously injured had swelling in her brain, a swollen ankle and “deep facial lacerations,” the affidavit said, and could not remember what happened immediately before the strike.
The second woman had lacerations along her body as well as a “large lump” on her head, although she remembered seeing the white BMW coming in their direction as they were walking shortly before the crash, the document said.
Schaeffer’s charges include two counts of second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree resisting arrest and two counts of fourth-degree vehicular assault. Jail records show that Schaeffer was taken to the Bergen County Jail on Saturday.
Anthony Zurita is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all the major news happening in North Jersey, subscribe here. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @AnthonyRZurita
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