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Teddy Mejia, 32, originally was charged with death by auto following the horrific Oct. 21 crash that killed Rudy Rosales Escobar, 40, of Hasbrouck Heights, and Alexander Cosme Curruchich, 29, of Englewood.
Investigators have since determined that Mejia was not only intoxicated but also speeding down Teaneck Road when his 2021 BMW M850i hit the tree – shearing off an entire limb – and rolled onto its roof near Bilton Street, authorities said on Monday, Oct. 30.
As a result, they've upgraded the charges to two counts of aggravated manslaughter, a count that involves a conscious disregard of the distinct possibility of death and “extreme indifference to human life," Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
A single aggravated manslaughter conviction ordinarily brings a prison sentence of no less than 10 years – 85% of which must be served under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act – and sometimes more.
It was shortly after 2 a.m. when the crash occurred. Escobar and Curruchich were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Mejia has remained hospitalized at Hackensack University Medical Center and will eventually be lodged in the Bergen County Jail, Musella said.
Detectives also filed drug possession charges against Mejia, who manages family-owned Elsa La Reina Del Chicharron, a Dominican restaurant on Teaneck Road.
He also received summonses for driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, and failure to maintain a lane, the prosecutor said.
Township police and firefighters responded to the overnight crash along with Bergen County sheriff’s officers. The sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence and the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bodies.
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