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The boy’s face was cut and the car was “a total wreck,” Acting Detective Capt. Tim Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT after the Thursday night incident. “Front, back and both sides had sustained heavy damage…. It was a miracle that the boy wasn’t injured more seriously.”
Carlos Jose Miranda, a 33-year-old Englewood resident, was arrested and charged with child endangerment, DUI assault by auto – and within 1,000 feet of a school — leaving the scene of an accident and DUI. He was also given several motor vehicle summonses.
Miranda allegedly claimed that his accelerator got stuck, a claim Torell called “highly suspect.”
In the first crash, just after 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Miranda’s car rammed a vehicle driven by a 39-year-old Englewood woman who had her two children – ages 6 and 9 – with her.
None were injured seriously in the crash at North Dean Street and Glenwood Road, Torell said.
Officers who rushed there found the front bumper in the street – with the license plate still attached.
Within minutes, a second call came in about another collision at West Hamilton and Pindle Avenues, about a quarter mile away, the captain said.
Officers there found Miranda “standing outside of his 2012 Infiniti, holding his 5-year-old son,” Torell said. “The boy had sustained a minor facial injury after the vehicle crashed head-on into a tree.”
In between the two crash sites, the Infiniti hit four other vehicles parked along North Dean Street, adjacent to an apartment complex, he said.
“It literally looked like a demolition derby scene,” Torell said. “There were smashed vehicles and debris all over, forcing us to close the road for a period of time.”
Miranda and his son were taken to Englewood Hospital for evaluation. After their release, the mother picked up her child and Miranda was taken to headquarters.
The state Division of Child Protection and Permanency has been notified, Torell said.
The Bergen County Sheriff’s Department Crime Scene Unit and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office assisted in the investigation, he said.
PHOTOS: Courtesy Englewood Police Department
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