An off-duty NYPD officer was killed Sunday by a hit-and-run driver while standing at the scene of a minor accident on the New Jersey Turnpike.
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35-year-old William Espinal-Mejia is charged with a single count of second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Investigators believe that Harrison had his gun drawn before he was fatally struck.
“The last time I saw my son was yesterday, 12:30 in the afternoon, and now I have to deal with this…It hurts”, his mother Glenda Harrison told NBC4.
Harrison, of Valley Stream, was a two-year veteran of the NYPD, worked the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach, Queens, according to an NYPD spokesman.
The off-duty NYPD officer who was struck, 25-year-old Vincent Harrison, had exited a vehicle that was involved in a crash around 3 a.m. Sunday on the New Jersey Turnpike.
They said Espinal-Mejia turned himself in to authorities Monday and bail was set at $100,000.
Harrison stopped in the right shoulder, and the Ford stopped in the right center lane. In the area of milepost 102, Harrison changed lanes into the right lane and a collision occurred. Harrison got out of the vehicle when he was struck by a 2008 Infiniti going southbound.
The driver of the Infiniti was located, the department said, and “State troopers are working with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office to determine appropriate charges”.
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The incident is under investigation.
