Tag: Maywood

YEARLONG HUNT VEXES HIT-RUN VICTIM’S BOSS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, December 21, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A04

Spencer Joseph worked so long at the IGA supermarket and was so popular around town that he was affectionately regarded as a borough landmark.

“He was one of the best persons around Maywood,” said Harry Tzimoulis, the owner of the supermarket. “He helped everyone. He was very friendly, and they all knew him by his first name. ”

But last year Joseph, 50, died after a hit-and-run accident. Authorities have not caught the driver.

Joseph was struck about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, 1990, as he crossed West Spring Valley Road near Edel Avenue. He died nine hours later in Hackensack Medical Center.

Although the case remains open, the investigation is dormant because no witness to the accident has come forward, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said. Joseph was walking from his house to the Forum Diner on Route 4 when the accident occurred at the busy intersection.
A $1,250 reward donated anonymously by two residents and three borough businesses for information leading to an arrest did not help.

“We believe that the car that was involved was a late model Pontiac,” Fahy said. “We have a small fragment of a light that we think came off the car that hit him. ”

Joseph, who authorities said was mildly retarded and was taking medication for epilepsy, had worked in the IGA store for about 30 years.
Tzimoulis said he hopes the driver will develop a guilty conscience and come forward.

“It hurts me badly,” he said. “Spencer was somebody special.”

ID: 17364220 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

POLICE SEEK CLUES IN MAYWOOD MAN’S HIT-AND-RUN DEATH

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)