N.J. mom, adult daughter lied to cops after crash that killed motorcyclist, authorities say

[mahatmakanejeeves]

HUDSON COUNTY
N.J. mom, adult daughter lied to cops after crash that killed motorcyclist, authorities say

Updated: Apr. 04, 2025, 12:11 a.m.|Published: Apr. 02, 2025, 1:21 p.m.
By Jeff Goldman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A 47-year-old Newark woman driving with a suspended license and her mother have been charged with lying to police following a crash in Jersey City that killed a motorcyclist.

Shaneeka Croom got into a collision with a motorcycle at the intersection of Routes 1&9 at Sip Avenue on Oct. 31, 2022, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said. … Croom called her mother, Elnoria Croom-Lundy, who showed up at the scene and told police she was the driver. Shaneeka Croom claimed she was a passenger in the car.

{snip}

A witness told investigators Croom climbed out the passenger side window of the car following the crash and that there were no passengers, the complaint said.

The motorcyclist, Steven Brown, 43, of Jersey City, died of his injuries about an hour after the 8:55 a.m crash. Brown was riding at least 87 mph in a 40 mph zone, the affidavit said. … The crash took place when the southbound Croom tried to turn left onto Sip Avenue and collided with Brown, who was riding north, authorities allege.

{snip}

[IbogaProject]

1. I read this article

The motorcyclist was doing 87 in a 40. NJ has very punitive licence suspensions that were historically hard to fully restore. Upto 1/4 of them all are suspended and include a gotcha where clearing all the financial requirements including paying to "lift" the suspension doesnt do it, there was a seperate unmentioned requirement to also pay to restore the "driving priledges". Reforms were implemented to narrow suspensions to driving offences and seperately they made speeding require a court appearance as even low points can create 3 years of insurance surcharges, even for out of state drivers. NJ was creating phantom licences for any out of state drivers, they wern't sending any notices to those out of state addresses. https://www.lsnj.org/KeyDevelopments/LicenseSuspension.aspx#:~:text=LSNJ%20%2D%20New%20Law%20Restricts%20Use,for%20Certain%20Crimes%20and%20Offenses&text=Governor%20Murphy%20recently%20signed%20into,%E2%80%9Cnon%2Dmoving%E2%80%9D%20offenses.

Just for perspective on how a poor family might try a move like this to avoid incarreration and retain employment.