Driver who killed Jerome Some is charged with DUI

On Tuesday night, Hackensack businessman Jerome Some left his building at 151 Prospect Ave., above, to attend a meeting across the street at Bel Posto Restaurant, below. Some's building, a co-op called the Eiffel Tower, is being renovated.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The driver who struck and killed a prominent Hackensack businessman on Tuesday night has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Jerome S. Some, the founder and owner of Some's Uniforms on Main Street in Hackensack, was crossing Prospect Avenue when he was struck by a woman who was driving to her job at Hackensack University Medical Center, Eye on The Record has learned.

The woman is said to be in her early 60s.

Some, who lived in a high-rise at 151 Prospect Ave., was crossing the street to attend a meeting at Bel Posto Restaurant, where he was a regular customer.

On Tuesday night, Some was lauded as a "pillar" of the community after Police Director Mike Mordaga informed officials about his death just before a City Council meeting.

Today, The Record reported Some, 87, was killed crossing Prospect Avenue "in the middle of the street, and not at an intersection."

Many questions

The story said the accident occurred at 7:30 p.m., but provided few other details, including where Some lived and where he was going at the time.

Mordaga referred questions to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, which took over the investigation of the fatality.

The Record's story didn't say whether Some has survivors, but employees of Bel Posto at 160 Prospect said he had dinner there about two times a week with relatives.

Should Prospect Avenue have crosswalks mid-block, considering the street is lined with many of the city's high-rise apartment buildings?

A crosswalk or lighted traffic cones would be a good idea for residents of Prospect Avenue who cross the street to patronize Bel Posto, a fine-dining restaurant with a sushi bar.

This afternoon, people who live or work along Prospect Avenue said the driver who killed Some didn't see him and did not brake before the impact.

Some was thrown onto the hood, then rolled off onto the pavement and was run over, they said.

Buono-Christie debate

The Record's coverage of the race for New Jersey governor continues to baffle readers, especially today's Page 1 report on the first debate between Governor Christie and Democratic challenger Barbara Buono.

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, the reporter assigned to cover Christie, seems to have thrown objectivity out of the window.

Unwilling to say whether Buono or Christie had the edge in the debate, Hayes reports in the first paragraph that they merely repeated "what they have said again and again in appearances across the state."

Here's the first time a reporter has admitted publicly to being bored with an election campaign.