Police: Bridgeton teen seriously injured in DWI hit-and-run accident involving illegal immigrant

Published: Friday, June 25, 2010, 7:18 PM Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010, 7:25 PM
Sean C. McCullen


Bridgeton police say a 17-year-old boy was seriously injured when a drunken driver struck him with a van as he walked along Church Street Thursday night.

BRIDGETON — A teenage boy sustained hip injuries and a broken leg when he was struck by an alleged drunken driver’s van on Church Street Thursday night.

The alleged driver, whom police identified as a suspected illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested after a witness to the Church Street hit-and-run crash detained him at Bank Street and Irving Avenue following a foot chase.

Share It was the second hit-and-run accident of the night for Jovany Mendez, 23, who had been living on Church Street, according to police.

Police initially were dispatched to Wendy’s on East Broad Street at 7:58 p.m. on a report that a large, blue passenger van backed into a car in the fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru lane and left the scene, Bridgeton Police Capt. Burl Kimble said.

While responding to the initial hit-and-run accident report, police were advised a van had crashed into several parked cars and a pedestrian on the 100 block of Church St.

The report indicated the pedestrian victim was “pinnedâ€