Police: Teen driver was high, speeding during crash that killed NJ mom

🔺 NJ mom died after two-SUV crash

🔺 Young driver ran from scene, police say

🔺 Police say teen was high and driving reckless

An 18-year-old Bergen County driver has been arrested on upgraded charges, as police have found that he was high and speeding at the time of a wreck that killed a woman last winter.

Alexander L. Vargas, of Bogota, is now facing aggravated manslaughter in the death of 40-year-old Dymond Fryson in Teaneck.

RELATED: Juvenile driver faces upgraded charges after killing NJ mom

On Jan. 25 around 7:55 a.m., Teaneck police responded to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Palmer and Sherman avenues.

A 2015 Ford Explorer driven by Vargas, who was 17 at the time, struck a 2022 Nissan Rogue driven by Fryson, who was returning home from school drop-off, according to police.

Vargas ran from the crash but was arrested not far from the scene, according to police.

Fryson was pronounced dead from her injuries the following day.

Read More: After hit-and-run kills woman, NJ driver charged with murder

Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella now says that Vargas was under the influence of marijuana and driving recklessly.

Investigators said he had blown through several stop signs while speeding around 60 mph in a residential zone.

On Sept. 25, Vargas was waived into adult court and charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular homicide, second-degree leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death and third-degree endangering an injured victim.

Vargas has since been released on home detention.

Fryson was mourned as a loving mother of two daughters and guardian of her niece — also survived by her partner, a school principal who works in the Bronx, New York, according to a GoFundMe campaign to support the Fryson-Brown family.

According to ABC7NY, the force of the crash sent the Rogue into a neighbor's house.

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