ANOTHER CVP SCOOP: A 21-year-old Franklin Lakes woman texting on her phone caused a multi-vehicle crash on Route 17 in Paramus yesterday that killed a 33-year-old motorcyclist from Elmwood Park, authorities said today.
Michael Miktus
Michael Miktus sustained massive trauma and severe blood loss in the 1:45 p.m. pile-up involving his cycle, a Jeep, a minivan, a BMW sedan and a Lincoln MKX owned by a limo company, near the Staples Shopping Center and A&S Drive on the southbound highway, authorities said.
Miktus was “a bright, charismatic loving man who is survived by extensive family and countless friends who will miss him dearly,” his brother, Matthew, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.
The driver of the black Jeep, Nadine Nixon of Franklin Lakes, was charged with reckless driving, texting while driving and following too closely, records show. She was issued three summonses to be answered in Municipal Court.
Nixon, a local fitness center sales manager, also was charged with obstruction of justice, reports say. Authorities said they couldn’t elaborate, however, noting that an investigation was continuing.
“The chain-reaction crash was from the first person [Nixon] stopping short,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier today, noting that another car hit the cycle. “Appears to be driver inattention on the part of the first driver, who was texting.”
PHOTO: Boyd A. Loving
The case now goes to Molinelli’s office and could be presented to a grand jury for more severe charges.
The driver of the second car was also charged with lower-degree offenses: Records show that police issued summonses for careless driving and following too closely to Alyssa Dabronzo, 29, of Lodi.
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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: State Police identified a motorcyclist killed overnight in a crash with a tractor-trailer on Route 80 in Lodi as 41-year-old Mark Candelario of Elmwood Park. READ MORE….
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Joining Paramus police at the scene were the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Fatal Accident Investigation Unit and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification. Also there were The Valley Hospital paramedic unit and the state Department of Transportation. The highway was closed more than four hours, from 1:45 p.m. to 6:05 p.m.
The left and center lanes were closed for more than two hours during the investigation.
PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving