The police department is credited with tireless police work in tracing down the alleged motorist, 50-year-old Brian Clements, who surrendered Wednesday.
Clements of Manalapan was released on $235,000 bail after he was charged with aggravated manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatality involving Silvia Reyes-Ramos of New Brunswick.
Clements surrendered to police in New Brunswick after Officer Mark Smith of the New Brunswick Police Department and Investigator Scott Crocco of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office traced the defendant's 2012 burgundy Ford Edge and linked him to the March 30, 2012 hit-and-run fatality.
The investigators determined that Clements was ''grossly intoxicated'' and was driving at a high rate of speed when his vehicle struck the woman at 7:06 p.m. as she was crossing Somerset Street at the Alexander Street intersection in New Brunswick, according to a criminal complaint filed against the defendant.
Ms. Reyes-Ramos was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she was pronounced dead on March 31, 2012 at 12:32 a.m.
Ms. Reyes-Ramos, the mother of three adult daughters and a 9-year-old son, was on her way to church when she was hit by the SUV. The children were not with her when she was struck.
After fleeing, the defendant had the Ford Edge repaired at an auto body shop, but surrendered the vehicle to authorities on April 10.
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