New York Man Suffers Serious Head Injuries in River Road Strike

Update: Pedestrian Struck on River Road Succumbs to Injuries

A New York man was rushed to the hospital Saturday with serious head and leg injuries after being struck by a car while crossing River Road at Hopper Avenue, police said.

Igors Cernenoks, 49, of Monroe, N.Y., was crossing westbound on River Road just before 4 p.m. when he was hit by a northbound vehicle driven by 46-year-old Fair Lawn resident Staci Callea, Lt. Bob Kneer said.

Cernenoks was about halfway across the street and in the crosswalk when he was hit, Kneer said. Surveillance footage shows the collision's impact threw him all the way back to the eastside curb.

“As he was walking, the tape shows that he gets struck — he really had no warning — and he flew back on the curb by B&B Liquors," Kneer said.

Cernenoks suffered traumatic head and leg injuries and was unconscious at the scene, Kneer said. He was rushed to St Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where he underwent emergency surgery. Police have yet to hear from the hospital on Cernenoks' condition since he entered surgery, Kneer said.

Callea, a Radburn resident whose 15-year-old daughter was in the car with her, was issued two summonses: one for careless driving and one for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Her gray 2009 Toyota Yaris sustained major damage to the windshield and hood, Kneer said. Neither alcohol nor road conditions were factors in the accident and it was unclear whether Callea had been distracted, he said.

Fair Lawn police, county police, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the county prosecutor's office's Fatal Accident Investigation Unit all responded to the scene.

The roads in the vicinity of the accident remained closed for about three hours, Kneer said.

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