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An “all-out” hunt for the phantom driver led investigators back to Joseph Fehl, 37, of Hasbrouck Heights following a review of area surveillance video and a series of interviews, Detective Lt. Shawn Kudlacik told CLIFFVIEW PILOT after arresting Fehl last July 3.
Fehl told police that he was struck by a dark, compact vehicle on Park Row off Adamson Street that then took a right on Stein Avenue toward Main Avenue, the lieutenant said. He said he then went to Hackensack University Medical Center for treatment of some scratches and bruises, Kudlacik said.
After an initial investigation turned up no vehicle debris or skidmarks, detectives obtained feeds from two area video surveillance cameras, he said.
“One of them had a direct view of the firehouse,” Kudlacik said at the time.
The video shows a series of vehicles turning onto Adamson from Park Row, after which Fehl then pulls his into the firehouse and gets out, the lieutenant said.
Another series of vehicles passes — all of them headed straight on Park and not turning, he said.
At that point, Fehl “claimed he’d already been struck,” Kudlacik said.
It’s entirely possible, he said, that Fehl fell.
Fehl has said that the footage is from the wrong street.
The indictment returned today in the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack charges him with insurance fraud and filing a false report.
It specifically alleges that Fehl:
• “did knowingly make, or cause to be made, a false, fictitious, fraudulent or misleading statement of material fact in a record, bill, claim or other document…in connection with a claim for payment,reimbursement or other benefit pursuant to an insurance policy, or from an insurance company or the Unsatisfied Claim And Judgement Fund Law”;
• “did make, present, offer for filing, or use any record, document or thing knowing it to be false, and with purpose that it be taken as a genuine part of information or records received or kept by the government, or required by law to be kept by others for information of the government, with the purpose to defraud or injure the Borough of Wallington.”
Fehl remained free on $2,000 bail that Kudlacik said he posted after his arrest.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy WALLINGTON PD
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