BY MATT AUERBACH
Staff Writer
EDISON — Two families were forced to relocate when a car crashed into their apartments last week.
According to officer Robert Dudash, Vijit Patel, 31, crashed a rented Mitsubishi Gallant into the apartments while attempting to pull the vehicle into a parking space in front of Building 9 at Hilltop Manor apartments on Dayton Drive. The accident took place at 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 when Patel mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal rather than the break while attempting to park the vehicle. Patel drove into the kitchen of an apartment. The force of the collision shifted the kitchen into the living room and caused the walls of the apartment, and the apartment adjacent to it, to buckle.
Patel then backed the vehicle out of the building, left it parked in front and fled the scene, Dudash said.
Police began searching for Patel and discovered he had been taken to Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield to be treated for an arm injury. They later learned from a family member that Patel might have been brought to a friend’s home on Wood Avenue.
According to Dudash, police found Patel, with his arm in a sling, at this home. They brought him back to the scene of the accident where he was charged with reckless driving, failure to report an accident and leaving the scene of a accident.
Lt. Robert Ellmyer, emergency management coordinator for the Edison Police Department, surveyed the damage to the building and determined that both apartments were uninhabitable.
Both of the relocated families refused the police’s help and are staying with family or friends, Dudash said.