SECAUCUS — Secaucus police charged 1st Ward Councilman Robert Costantino, who is up for re-election next Tuesday, with “hindering” on Oct. 2, in connection with a car crash he was involved in a few days before, according to a criminal complaint received via an open public records request.
The police complaint says that Officer Kiril Petrov responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash at 701 Third St. on Sep. 23. Upon arriving, a local teacher named Dawn Leon met the officer, claiming a truck veered into the lane of traffic and impacted the driver’s side of her vehicle while she was driving southbound on Third Street.
Petrov then said he spoke with Costantino, who was with Leon in the car and lives at 701 Third St.
Costantino claimed he was in the passenger seat up front when the truck impacted with the vehicle, the report said. However, the truck driver who allegedly crashed into the vehicle claimed its driver was a “white middle-aged male wearing a white t-shirt.” And three construction workers near the accident also alleged that Costantino had been driving.
Petrov said he spoke with Costantino and Leon again. They both claimed Leon was the driver, and that Costantino did not take the wheel until after the crash, the report said.
In an Oct. 2. supplementary incident report, Petrov said he obtained surveillance footage from a nearby address. He alleged that “the footage does not show the motor vehicle crash, however it does show the driver, who is wearing a white-colored short sleeve shirt which the witnesses on scene did describe to me and who was identified as Mr. Costantino.”
Costantino reportedly told Petrov when following up that Leon was “so shaken up” after the crash that she jumped into his lap from the driver’s seat, then “somehow into the rear seat.”
“Due to the inconsistent statements from Mr. Costantino and Ms. Leon from the day of the incident and today’s conversation, along with the video footage collected from the scene which clearly shows Mr. Costantino operating the vehicle within moments prior to the crash, and having three separate witnesses all stating Mr. Constantino was the operator of the vehicle when the crash occurred, I believe the driver of the vehicle during the crash was Mr. Constantino,” Petrov alleged in his supplemental report.
The officer wrote a summons for Costantino, charging him with hindering and giving false information to an officer. He had a scheduled court date for Oct. 24, which was rescheduled for Nov. 9.
The information comes less than two weeks before Costantino faces challenger Steven Kilawattie for his 1st Ward seat. (See story in this coming weekend’s paper.)
The Reporter asked Constantino about the report last week. He responded, “I was involved in a fender bender in front of my house with a cement truck. There was a disagreement as to the facts of the incident, and I’m confident the courts will sort it out very quickly.”
