2 men hit, injured by car during violent Paterson fight

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A 53-year-old man was arrested after a pair of apparently deliberate pedestrian crashes Monday, June 19, in Paterson’s Sandy Hill area, reports Daily Voice.

Authorities said the events unfolded in the area of Market Street and East 18th Street, just after 1:30 a.m.

Preliminary details indicate the suspect, Doretero Cruz, was engaged in an argument with two other men that turned violent when Cruz punched one of the men. Cruz is said to have hit another man with a wooden milk crate before the men and others began throwing bottles at him. Cruz then got into his vehicle and drove toward one man, pinning him against a chain-link fence. The suspect then turned around in the vehicle, entered Market Street from the wrong direction, and then steered onto the sidewalk, where the vehicle hit the second man. A stop sign and multiple garbage cans were also downed by the vehicle before it arrived at a stop in front of an apartment building.

First responders transported Cruz and the two victims to St. Joseph’s University for non-life-threatening injuries.

On Wednesday, June 21, Cruz was arrested and booked into Bergen County Jail. He has since been charged with two counts of “attempted murder, aggravated assault,” and other offenses involving a weapon–the vehicle, in this case.