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Joel Lasanta, 39, was captured by New Jersey State Police two days after the June 4, 2020 crash, authorities said at the time.
Jada Smith had been headed back to Teaneck from Brooklyn with fellow family members in two vehicles when she was involved in another accident in the southbound express lanes of Route 95 shortly before 10:30 p.m.
Smith's mom and dad were in a car behind hers coming off the George Washington at the time, a source with direct knowledge of the incident told Daily Voice. READ MORE....
Smith got out of her Honda CRV to call her mother and was standing in the road on her phone when the tractor-trailer hit her, the source said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene less than a half-hour later, responders said.
State troopers nabbed Lasanta at the Clara Barton Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike south of Cherry Hill -- 115 or so miles from the site of the crash.
Lasanta, of Kissimmee, FL, took a deal from prosecutors rather than face trial, pleading guilty to a second-degree charge of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death. They dropped a hindering charge as part of the agreement.
Lasanta remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending his assignment to a state correctional facility.
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