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on April 22, 2013 at 5:30 PM, updated April 23, 2013 at 6:22 AM
A
bus driver has been arrested in the November hit-and-run death of
Jeffrey Zeisler, above, of Howell. Zeisler was on his way to his first
day at a new job.
NEWARK — A bus driver has been
arrested in connection with the hit-and-run death of a Howell man at
Newark Liberty International Airport in mid-November, the Essex County
Prosecutor’s Office said today.
The suspect, Fidel Ortez, 47, of West New York, a driver for Academy Bus, was arrested on Friday, more than five months after Jeffrey Zeisler was found dead in a fog-shrouded parking lot early on the morning of Nov. 13.
Zeisler had planned to take a morning flight to Chicago for his first day at a new job after being unemployed for six months.
Today, Ortez said in a telephone interview that he alerted the bus company dispatcher immediately after he saw Zeisler laying on the pavement.
"The guy was on the floor," Ortez said in halting English. "I call my dispatcher. I tell him that something happen."
Ortez said he was driving the empty bus along the regular route and that he had not seen Zeisler.
Investigators have said Zeisler, 61, was run down between 3:45 a.m. and 4:15 a.m., shortly after had had driven to an outdoor lot at the airport, P-6.
Ortez said he was subsequently interviewed by police, including in the presence of his lawyer, whom he did not identify.
He was freed on $50,000 bail, and has not yet been arraigned.
Ortez, who has been with Academy for 12 years, said he has continued to drive for Academy since the incident, and was scheduled to return to his route as early as Wednesday.
"I continue my work on the bus," he said.
Academy officials could not be reached for comment.
Ortez was taken into custody Friday after a grand jury indictment on charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a second-degree offense, and endangering an injured victim, a third-degree offense, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
"He hit the victim, Mr. Zeisler, and failed to stop or render aid," Carter said.
Zeisler was booked on a 6:30 a.m. plane to Chicago for three days of training before he was to return to Monmouth County as a supervising director at the Farmingdale headquarters of a multinational technology-products recycling company, his widow, Carol Zeisler, said in November.
She had tried to keep him home a few more hours, but that her husband had been out of work and was eager to get going. She said he left their home about 2:30 a.m.
"Be careful," she said.
Those were the last words the two, married for 31 years, would say to each other.
Since that November morning, Carol Zeisler has said she was intent on making sure the person responsible for her husband’s death was caught and punished.
Fearing she would compromise the prosecution, she declined to comment today on the arrest.
In November, she said her husband, regardless of his enthusiasm for the new job, would not have put himself in danger.
"Jeff was a very careful person," she said. "He was a rock."
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/04/bus_driver_arrested_in_newark.html
on April 22, 2013 at 5:30 PM, updated April 23, 2013 at 6:22 AM
A
bus driver has been arrested in the November hit-and-run death of
Jeffrey Zeisler, above, of Howell. Zeisler was on his way to his first
day at a new job. The suspect, Fidel Ortez, 47, of West New York, a driver for Academy Bus, was arrested on Friday, more than five months after Jeffrey Zeisler was found dead in a fog-shrouded parking lot early on the morning of Nov. 13.
Zeisler had planned to take a morning flight to Chicago for his first day at a new job after being unemployed for six months.
Today, Ortez said in a telephone interview that he alerted the bus company dispatcher immediately after he saw Zeisler laying on the pavement.
"The guy was on the floor," Ortez said in halting English. "I call my dispatcher. I tell him that something happen."
Ortez said he was driving the empty bus along the regular route and that he had not seen Zeisler.
Investigators have said Zeisler, 61, was run down between 3:45 a.m. and 4:15 a.m., shortly after had had driven to an outdoor lot at the airport, P-6.
Ortez said he was subsequently interviewed by police, including in the presence of his lawyer, whom he did not identify.
He was freed on $50,000 bail, and has not yet been arraigned.
Ortez, who has been with Academy for 12 years, said he has continued to drive for Academy since the incident, and was scheduled to return to his route as early as Wednesday.
"I continue my work on the bus," he said.
Academy officials could not be reached for comment.
Ortez was taken into custody Friday after a grand jury indictment on charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a second-degree offense, and endangering an injured victim, a third-degree offense, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
"He hit the victim, Mr. Zeisler, and failed to stop or render aid," Carter said.
Zeisler was booked on a 6:30 a.m. plane to Chicago for three days of training before he was to return to Monmouth County as a supervising director at the Farmingdale headquarters of a multinational technology-products recycling company, his widow, Carol Zeisler, said in November.
She had tried to keep him home a few more hours, but that her husband had been out of work and was eager to get going. She said he left their home about 2:30 a.m.
"Be careful," she said.
Those were the last words the two, married for 31 years, would say to each other.
Since that November morning, Carol Zeisler has said she was intent on making sure the person responsible for her husband’s death was caught and punished.
Fearing she would compromise the prosecution, she declined to comment today on the arrest.
In November, she said her husband, regardless of his enthusiasm for the new job, would not have put himself in danger.
"Jeff was a very careful person," she said. "He was a rock."
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/04/bus_driver_arrested_in_newark.html
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