Off-duty cop fatally strikes pedestrian, takes body home with him in panic: prosecutors – Yahoo News
An off-duty Newark police officer panicked when he fatally struck a pedestrian on the shoulder of a New Jersey parkway — and loaded the body into his car and took it home with him as he tried to decide what to do, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Louis Santiago, 25, was driving his Honda Accord on the Garden State Parkway when he veered out of his lane and mowed down Damian Dymka about 3 a.m. Nov. 1, according to Essex County prosecutors.
Santiago and his passenger, Albert Guzman, 25, did not render aid for Dymka, 29, or call 911, according to prosecutors.
Instead they allegedly fled the scene but drove back later and loaded Dymka’s body into the backseat and went to Santiago’s home in Bloomfield, N.J.
Santiago and his mother Annette Santiago, 53, then “discussed what to do with the body,” prosecutors charge.
Santiago’s father, a lieutenant in the Newark Police Department, later called 911. Dymka’s body was still in the backset of the Honda when cops arrived at the scene, according to prosecutors.
Santiago, his mother and Guzman were all arrested, charged and released Tuesday, said Essex County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Katherine Carter.
Santiago now faces a slew of charges, including reckless vehicular homicide and desecrating human remains, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
His mother and Guzman are both charged with conspiracy to desecrate human remains, hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence.
Dymka lived in Garfield, N.J. and, according to his LinkedIn page, worked as a supervising nurse at Preakness Healthcare Center in Wayne, N.J.
His neighbor, who declined to give her name, said she couldn’t believe the story of Dymka’s death.
“To think the cop moved a body instead of calling for help—who would do that?,” she said. “Who wouldn’t help?”
Dymka was his parents’ only child, the neighbor said.
“I don’t know how you move on from something like this,” she said. “Not just the accident, but the lies.”
Dymka spent the COVID-19 pandemic on the front lines — and was involved with Bergen County’s Rainbow Cafe, an LGBTQ organization.
“We are all saddened to hear of the passing of one of our Rainbow Café family,” Rainbow Cafe wrote in a Nov. 2 Facebook post. “Damian Ziggy Dymka was a generous, kind, and thoughtful person, a great nurse beloved by his colleagues and patients, and a caring friend to all.”
Sean Michael Ciobanu, who said in a Facebook post that he and Dymka previously dated and “shortly married,” wrote he was heartbroken by his close friend’s death.
“It saddens me to think that the world won’t be able to be brightened by your kind spirit, love of others, and your infectious smile and humor,” Ciobanu wrote. “I can only hope that you knew I always wished you the best in life.”