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| The large SUV that struck and fatally injured Deirdre Bowe, 64, stopped approximately here on Polifly Road and Mary Street in Hackensack, as shown in the Hackensack police report filed on July 10, 2022, by Police Officer Panagiotis Seretis, below. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Who was Deirdre Janet Bowe?
The 64-year-old woman was struck by a Cadillac Escalade as she crossed a darkened Polifly Road at Mary Street in Hackensack at about 8:55 p.m. on July 10, 2022, and died of her injuries in a hospital.
Bowe is the second woman killed crossing Polifly Road, a busy 4-lane street supposedly maintained by Bergen County that has a crosswalk at only one intersection between Essex Street and Route 80 -- a distance of 11 blocks -- and inadequate lighting.
Hackensack officials' repeated calls for better street lighting and crosswalks at every intersection have fallen on deaf ears at the Bergen County Administration building in Hackensack.
Even signs or flashing lights warning drivers of pedestrians wouldn't be out of place given a popular CVS Pharmacy, all of the apartment buildings lining both sides of Polifly Road, and drivers who often exceed the speed limit.
2021 fatality
On March 4, 2021, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver and struck by a second driver as she crossed a darkened Polifly Road, between Sutton and Marvin avenues, several blocks away from the latest fatality.
She was going to pick up a prescription at the CVS Pharmacy, family members said.
The case remains open at the Bergen County prosecutor's Fatal Accident Investigation Unit, which has been unable to locate the vehicle that struck her or identify the driver who fled.
Deirdre Janet Bowe
Bowe's first name was misspelled in the Hackensack police report, and she wasn't identified in the Daily Voice story about her death on July 11, 2022.
The headline: "Pedestrian, 64, Struck, Killed On Treacherous Stretch of Road in Hackensack."
"Lost too soon" said an online obituary in The Record and Herald News on July 15, 2022, listing as survivors her mother, Hope; her sister, Daphne Bowe-Kricheff; and three children, Ashton, Christopher and Cordelia Bowe-Rivera.
There is no information on where she lived. The obituary suggested donations to AdvanceHousing.org.
What driver said
The driver, Abraham Hazem, 56, of Hackensack told police "he was traveling southbound on Polifly Road," near Mary Street, and "the pedestrian ran across the roadway and that he was unable to avoid the collision."
Hazem was driving a black Cadillac Escalade registered in New York State with "SYDNEYS" on the license plates.
The police officer who wrote the report noted:
"The pedestrian was not crossing at a marked crosswalk" and the "nearest crosswalk was located north of the location...200 feet away."
"Also the location has very little overhead lighting making the area dark," the officer wrote.
There are apartments and homes on both sides of the street near the spot where Bowe was killed, a couple of blocks from Route 80.
The driver was released at the scene, the police report noted.
What state law says
The officer who wrote the report mentioned the pedestrian wasn't using a marked crosswalk, but state law says:
"Pedestrians have the right-of-way at all intersections, including intersections with no crosswalk markings ('unmarked crosswalks').
"A motorist is required to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection."
"From 2010 to 2020, 14 pedestrians were killed in Hackensack, records show," NorthJersey.com has reported.
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