ROSELLE — Authorities are searching for the driver of a pickup truck involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Roselle that occurred last weekend, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park announced Monday.
It was shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday when police and emergency medical personnel arrived in the area of 2nd Avenue and Poplar Street in Roselle to find a Union Taxi cab that had been struck from behind moments earlier, according to the investigation, which is being handled jointly by the Roselle Police Department Traffic Unit and the Union County Police Department’s accident reconstruction unit.
The cab driver, 42-year-old Robert Rodriguez of Perth Amboy, was rushed to Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, where he was pronounced dead. A passenger in the cab was not seriously injured.
Investigators determined that the taxi had been struck by a light-colored pickup truck that left the scene of the accident; the truck likely has moderate front-end damage and yellow paint scrapings on its front grille. As of midday Monday, the pickup truck had not been located and its driver remained at large.
Anyone with information about this incident is being urged to contact the Roselle Police Department at 908-245-2000.