Eric Rodriguez Charged After Jeep Strikes Three Teens, Flees Cedarville

A 30-year-old man who lives in the Cedarville section of Lawrence Township was charged after his Jeep SUV veered onto the shoulder of County Route 533 and struck three teenage pedestrians at about 7 p.m. Saturday, New Jersey State Police said. Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron said the crash occurred near milepost 12 on the two-lane road and that the driver fled before troopers arrived.

State Police identified the driver as Eric Rodriguez and said the Jeep was traveling northbound on County Route 533 when it went onto the right shoulder and struck the youths. “After the impact, Rodriguez fled the scene prior to the trooper’s arrival,” Lebron said. “Through various investigative means, Rodriguez was identified as the operator of the Jeep and was subsequently arrested.”

The three pedestrians were male teenagers who were standing on the shoulder when they were struck, according to the State Police account carried by NJ.com and 97.3 ESPN. A 17-year-old suffered serious injuries, one 15-year-old suffered moderate injuries, and another 15-year-old suffered minor injuries. The three were taken to a local hospital for treatment; the outlets did not specify which hospital received them.

Law enforcement charged Rodriguez with three counts of assault by auto and two counts of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving serious bodily injury, the State Police statement reported. Authorities later released him pending a court date; the arrest and release were noted in the State Police account but the exact booking information and arraignment date were not provided.

Local reporting shows some variation in how the roadway was described. Multiple outlets and the State Police used County Route 533 and milepost 12 as the location, while other dispatches referred to the site as Main Street in Cedarville. A separate header in an aggregated feed listed County Route 553, a designation State Police did not confirm; those discrepancies remain to be reconciled with official maps or a formal NJ State Police incident release.

State Police and local outlets have not released additional details on whether impairment, excessive speed, a medical emergency, or other factors contributed to the Jeep veering onto the shoulder. At the time outlets summarized the State Police account, investigators were continuing their work and had not provided updates on toxicology, vehicle recovery, or whether any first aid was rendered at the scene.

This incident follows other fatal and nonfatal hit-and-run cases in the wider Cumberland County area cited in local reporting, including the 2023 Bridgeton case in which a 10-year-old, Larissa Muniz, later died of injuries, and a separate Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, hit-and-run that led to an arrest in January 2025. Those cases are distinct from the Rodriguez matter but underscore the attention local prosecutors and police have given to hit-and-run investigations in recent years.

The New Jersey State Police, represented in the initial accounts by Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron, provided the principal details and said Rodriguez was identified and arrested after the investigation. Authorities have not yet supplied a calendar date for arraignment, hospital names, or further updates on the victims’ conditions.