NJ mom killed in hit and run — driver gets short prison term

🔺 NJ mom struck while walking bike across street

🔺 Hit and run driver pleaded guilty

🔺 Young man gets prison

A New Jersey family has been mourning a 45-year-old Middlesex County woman, struck and killed in a hit and run last summer — for which the driver has now been sent to prison.

The victim's sister said the light prison term felt like a failure in the justice system.

On Aug. 31, Kristen Bruschi, of Fords, was walking her bicycle across a wide intersection when she was struck by a black Ford Mustang that kept going, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Young NJ driver charged after deadly car crash

Woodbridge NJ (Google Maps)

The incident happened after 5:30 p.m. at the intersection of Woodbridge Center Drive and Plaza Drive.

Bruschi had just picked up some groceries at the Wegmans store in the adjacent shopping plaza, Patch reported.

Hit and run victim Kristen Bruschi (faillamcknight.com)

Bruschi was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

She was survived by her daughter, her own mother, siblings and other relatives, according to an online obituary.

The following day, 23-year-old Antonio Rivera, of Woodbridge, was brought in for police questioning and then arrested.

Woodbridge intersection (Google Maps)

Rivera pleaded guilty on March 11 to second-degree knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash resulting in death and fourth-degree creating a false report to law enforcement.

He was sentenced on Monday in Middlesex County Superior Court to five years in state prison.

Kristen Bruschi was killed in a Woodbridge hit and run (Google Maps, faillamcknight.com)

"Our family is devastated at the 'slap on the wrist' sentence that our courts have issued," Carolina Bruschi-Williams, said in a written statement to New Jersey 101.5.

She continued "The defendant took away a mom from a teenage girl when she needed her the most. We understand accidents do happen and people panic but this was no sense of panic. His acts to flee, falsify police reports and then bury his crime shows his true character."

"Although no amount of time will ever bring Kristen back we are a little relieved to have some sense of closure. We will continue to share her story and keep her memory alive forever," Bruschi-Williams added.

"Kristen was loved by all that met her and had a huge heart. We will miss her forever."

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