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Investigators were examining the contention that Caramagna, who resigned after being arrested on voter fraud charges earlier this year, made an illegal U-turn on Market Street, causing Sunday’s accident, authorities confirmed.
Both Caramagna, 74, and a borough officer were briefly hospitalized with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening after the police car rammed the former mayor’s vehicle on the passenger side.
“They both got banged up,” one responder said. “They both got checked out at the hospital and were released.”
The sheriff’s office investigates non-fatal crashes involving municipal employees to avoid any appearance of a potential conflict.
Caramagna resigned from office in April after being charged with election fraud by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which said he completed mail-in ballots for voters.
After winning an uncontested mayoral primary in June, Caramagna officially withdrew from this November’s election earlier this month.
Caramagna, whose term would have expired at the end of 2019, applied for entry into a Pre-Trial Intervention Program. If accepted into the program, he could have his record cleared of charges after a designated period of time by meeting certain conditions.
Francesco "Frank" Caramagna became the first Democratic mayor of the borough in 47 years when he was elected to the post in 2017.
He was arrested in April after prosecutors said they received a complaint that Caramagna "interfered with the election process with regard to applications for vote-by-mail ballots in the 2017 mayoral election in Elmwood Park."
SEE: Now-Former Elmwood Park Mayor Calls Voter Fraud Charges 'Politically Motivated'
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