By Kevin Kenney and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Friday, December 21, 1990
The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03
Police turned to the public Thursday for clues in the hit-and-run death of a popular 50-year-old stock clerk whom they described as mildly retarded and epileptic.
“We’re really kind of desperate,” said Officer Joseph Sacco, a department spokesman. “We have nothing. That’s the problem. “
Sacco’s plea came after the death of Spencer Joseph of 151 Parkway, who was struck about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday as he crossed West Spring Valley Road near Edel Avenue.
The vehicle that struck him sped away, and police later responded to a report of a man lying in the road.
Joseph whose mother, Elizabeth, was killed in a 1972 house fire was walking from his house to the Forum Diner on Route 4 in nearby Paramus when the incident occurred, police said.
He was rushed to Hackensack Medical Center with extensive injuries to the lower part of his body, but was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m. Thursday following surgery, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office reported.
“It happened at a busy commuter time, and we’re hoping somebody may have seen something,” said Sacco, adding that police were posting fliers around the accident scene to alert people to their investigation.
“Somebody had to see something. We’re hoping the person who did it, maybe they can come forward. Maybe they panicked.”
Joseph, a stock clerk at the IGA supermarket on West Pleasant Avenue, was described by his employer, Harry Tzimoulis, as a friendly, popular fixture at the store. “His father called me this morning,” Tzimoulis said. “Everybody is shocked in the store. We feel something missing.”
Tzimoulis said he could not recall how long Joseph had worked at the store, but that it was “a lot of years. ” Tzimoulis bought the store about a year ago.
“He was a fellow that everybody knew,” Tzimoulis said. “All the customers knew him by his first name. He helped everybody.”
Lt. Richard Price, who described Joseph as “mildly retarded,” said Joseph was also hit by a car in Hackensack about four years ago while riding his bike. Joseph suffered a fractured leg, said Price.
Price also said Joseph was taking medication for his epilepsy, but it was not known if that might have played a role in the accident.
Police urged anyone with information about the accident to call the borough Police Department at 845-8800 or the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Investigation Unit at 646-3531.
ID: 17327401 | Copyright © 1990, The Record (New Jersey)
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