Two New Jersey women were killed Saturday while walking home from a World Cup watch party after being struck by a hit-and-run driver, according to authorities and disturbing surveillance video.
Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltran, 58, and Maria Isabel DeLosAngeles Salgado Ayala, 61, were crossing at Park Avenue and North 7th Street in Newark when a vehicle slammed into them, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Surveillance footage from the area showed the suspect, identified as 26-year-old David J. Zapata-Vera, speeding through the intersection before hitting both women and throwing them into the air, according to video obtained by WABC.
A witness claimed Zapata-Vera accelerated into the crosswalk as the traffic signal was changing.
“I don’t know if he was drunk, but anyway, he put the gas and that’s what happens,” Manuel Candelaria told the station.
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Both women were taken to University Hospital in Newark, where they were later pronounced dead.
Their deaths have left grieving relatives shaken and searching for answers.
“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.
