Driver accused in double fatal hit-and-run in Newark
David Zapata Vera didn't put up a fight concerning the state's request to keep him in the Essex County Jail until trial. He's accused of failing to stop after running down two women in a crosswalk in Newark.
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David Zapata Vera, the alleged driver in a double fatal hit-and-run in Newark will be staying in jail until his trial.
The 26-year-old Zapata Vera consented to detention during a hearing at the Essex County Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Lori Grifa.
The detention hearing lasted only a few minutes. The state had filed a motion to keep him jailed, however, Zapata Grifa could have argued for bail.
The hit-and-run took place on June 20. Zapata Vera turned himself in to Newark police three days after allegedly driving through the intersection of Park Ave and 7th Street, at high speed, hitting and killing two women. Both victims were from Ecuador.
Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltran and Maria Isabel Delosangeles Salgado Ayala were close friends who had been walking home from a World Cup Watch party.
The accident was captured on surveillance cameras attached to the New Look Barbershop. It shows the two women walking side by side along Park Avenue.
As they enter the crosswalk, a red sedan allegedly driven by Zapata Vera sped into the intersection at Park and North Seventh. Both women were thrown 50 feet as the car kept going. Neither woman survived their injuries.
There is a digital sign at the intersection now that reminds all the New Jersey law requires you stop and stay after an accident.
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News 12 spoke Luciana Rodriguez, who works in the neighborhood and crosses these streets every day.
“People will run through yellow lights all the time and you just have to double check take your time. Any time of day this can happen I’m always checking around me because you never know," said Luciana Rodriguez.
Beltran was 58 and Ayala was 61 years old.
Zapata Vera is facing charges that include vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
