Crime & Safety

Driver Charged, Could Face Jail Time, in Lord & Taylor Accident

Charges upgraded because it occurred in a school zone.

Westfield Police charged Leslie Boughner of Westfield with second degree aggravated assault with a motor vehicle Wednesday morning, following the Aug. 5 accident in front of Lord & Taylor in which a department store employee was hit while crossing North Avenue.

Boughner, with her attorney Robert Norton of Westfield, surrendered herself to the police this morning to be charged. The charges follow an investigation which started hours after the accident. On the day of the accident, Boughner was issued a summons for DWI and had a blood sample taken to test the amount of alcohol in her system.

"After review of the case by the county prosecutor's office, we have probable cause that she operated her motor vehicle recklessly under the influence of either alcohol or drugs," Police Captain David Wayman said.

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Wayman said that while police are alleging that Boughner was impaired, he could not indicate if it was alcohol or drugs that played a role. Because the location of the accident, near the YMCA and down the block from Roosevelt Intermediate School, is in a school zone, the charges were upgraded to a second degree offense. Wayman indicated that Boughner could face jail time if convicted.

Boughner was released by police this morning after posting $20,000 in bail. The case is now in the hands of the Union County prosecutor's office.

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Norton declined to comment on the charges filed against his client.

The accident occurred around noon on Aug. 5, when Gina Marotta, 25, of Clark was crossing North Avenue en route to her job at Lord & Taylor. Marotta had been coming from her car, parked in the employee lot across from the store. While in the crosswalk, Marotta was hit by Boughner's 2005 maroon Ford Taurus. Marotta was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where she underwent surgery for a broken arm, a broken leg and head injuries. She has since been released from the hospital. This is one in a series of pedestrian accidents on North Avenue in front of Lord & Taylor in the last decade. In 2004, a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a car in the same crosswalk.

The charges come the same day as an Associated Press report regarding a U.S. Transportation Department study which showed a 30-percent increase in the number of women who were arrested for drunk driving over the last decade.

Police have erected a flashing sign on North Avenue asking anyone who witnessed the accident to contact police at 789-4000. Wayman said the sign was put up in order to gain more witnesses as the investigation remains on-going. A move such as this is common when law enforcement is looking to finalize a case against a defendant.


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