Driver surrenders 2 weeks after hit-run kills 12-year-old in Union

UNION TOWNSHIP (Union) — The driver of a work van that prosecutors said was involved in a hit-and-run that killed a 12-year-old boy on July 17 turned himself into police on Friday.

Jeremy Maraj was hit before 8 p.m. by a vehicle described by police as a white commercial van while he crossed Galloping Hill Road on his way home from Irene Hoppe Park. He died two days later at University Hospital in Newark.

Jose V. Marrero, 37, of the Lake Hiawatha section of Parsippany-Troy Hills, surrendered at the Prosecutor's Office in Elizabeth on Friday night, according to Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo. He was charged with second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Investigators determined Marrero was driving his work vehicle, a Nissan NV200 cargo van, when he struck Maraj.

Directly after the accident, township police told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that they had identified the driver of the van with help from his employer. Township police in the same report also said they had retrieved the vehicle. But prosecutors declined to comment on the details of the investigation or confirm whether they had a suspect until Friday's announcement, which did not confirm whether police had the right driver all along.

Marrero was being held at the Union County Jail awaiting his first appearance in Superior Court.

Jeremy's mother, Lisa Jamurath said her son helped save four lives, including that of another child, through donations of his heart, kidney, liver and pancreas.

The Jeremy Maraj Memorial Fund on GoFundMe started by Jamurath has raised thousands of dollars toward funeral and medical expenses.

Neighbor Tom Ehrhardt also created a Jeremy Maraj Memorial Fund for medical and funeral expenses while "excess funds will be donated to the local elementary school," according to the campaign.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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