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Byron L. Hernandez, an 18-year-old laborer, crashed the 2019 Honda Civic stolen shortly after 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
North Arlington police began chasing the vehicle, which had been reported stolen out of Elizabeth, on River Road but terminated the pursuit after speeds reached 100 miles an hour, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Hernandez continued speeding down Riverside Avenue, then wiped out while apparently trying to make the right across from the Lyndhurst Diner toward the Kingland Avenue bridge, he said.
The Honda slammed into a gas pump support pillar at the Exxon station at the corner of Riverside and Kingsland.
The female passenger was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she remained in stable condition Monday, Musella said.
Hernandez, meanwhile, was taken into custody by Lyndhurst and North Arlington police and was charged with vehicular assault, eluding and child endangerment, among other offenses, he said.
Hernandez remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Fatal Accident Investigations Unit responded, along with Lyndhurst police and firefighters, the Lyndhurst Police Emergency Squad and the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence.
A township building inspector was summoned to check the canopy.
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NOTE: The incident underscore constant reminders from authorities that the overwhelming majority of vehicles are stolen because owners don't lock them or take their key fobs. Someone could get killed someday because of it. No one wants that on their head.
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