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Tae Lee actually made it easy for them, investigators said.
Lee had been behind the wheel of a southbound SUV that struck the victim as he crossed Industrial Avenue in Teterboro between the airport and the Walmart-anchored Teterboro Landing shopping center at 4:40 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Saturday.
Lee, who lives in the Mediterranean House high-rise a little less than six miles from the accident scene, kept going, investigators said.
Police responding to the crash found the victim, who lives in Paterson, lying in the roadway.
"He was conscious and said he didn't know what had happened before waking up on the side of the road," Moonachie Police Lt. Jeff Napolitano said Wednesday.
The man was taken to the trauma unit at Hackensack University Medical Center with serious injuries to his lower extremities, the lieutenant said at the time.
Detectives from Musella’s Major Crimes Unit, working with Moonachie police, gathered and reviewed surveillance videos from area traffic light cameras, as well as from the airport and the cluster of businesses in Teterboro Landing.
Local police also asked that anyone who might have witnessed the crash or had information that could identify the vehicle or driver to contact them immediately.
Then Lee himself showed up, telling authorities that he'd witnessed the incident.
Things quickly added up, however, and Lee was charged with leaving the scene of a traffic accident.
He was also given summonses for leaving and failing to report the crash, then was released pending court action, Musella said.
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