2nd Suspect Charged in Paramus, N.J., Fatal Route 17 Hit-and-Run

PARAMUS, N.J. — A second New York man has surrendered on felony drug distribution charges and the driver accused of running over a pedestrian in Monday’s fatal Route 17 South hit-and-run in Paramus, N.J., faces five new narcotics counts after detectives found several hundred THC cartridges inside the SUV and U-Haul trailer involved in the crash, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced Friday, Oct. 23.

Michael C. Marciano, 47, of Fairport, N.Y., surrendered to authorities Friday and was charged with two counts of second-degree possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance and one count of second-degree conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, according to the prosecutor’s office. Investigators determined that Marciano owned the 2024 Acura SUV involved in the crash, had rented the U-Haul trailer it was towing, and was driving a separate vehicle in tandem with the Acura when the collision happened.

Estuardo G. Rodriguez, 31, of Tarrytown, N.Y. — the driver of the Acura who was boxed in by witnesses about half a mile from the scene on Monday evening — was served Friday at the Bergen County Jail with five additional charges: two counts of second-degree possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, one count of second-degree conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and two counts of third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

Charges are accusations. Both Rodriguez and Marciano are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

What detectives say the vehicle searches turned up

Following Monday’s crash, detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and the Paramus Police Department executed searches of the 2024 Acura and the attached U-Haul trailer. According to prosecutors, investigators recovered several hundred THC cartridges from the vehicle and trailer, along with one pill each of suspected Ecstasy and Percocet inside the Acura.

Further investigation linked Marciano to the drugs and established that he owned the Acura, had rented the U-Haul trailer, and was traveling alongside Rodriguez in another vehicle when the crash occurred on Route 17 South near Westfield Garden State Plaza, prosecutors said. Both Rodriguez and Marciano remain held in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack pending court proceedings.

Background: The Oct. 19 fatal Route 17 hit-and-run

As Bergen TV reported Tuesday, Paramus police responded at about 5:09 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, to a pedestrian hit-and-run on Route 17 South near the mall. Officers found Krisiann Reyes Rivera, 31, of the Bronx, N.Y., lying in the roadway with life-threatening injuries; she was taken by ambulance to HMH Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the 2024 Acura towing the U-Haul trailer had collided with a 2015 Buick in which Rivera was a passenger. After that initial collision, Rivera got out of the Buick, walked to the Acura and struck one of its windows, prosecutors said. Rodriguez then accelerated and struck Rivera as he drove away, knocking her to the ground and running her over with the trailer’s rear tires, according to the Oct. 20 release.

Rodriguez exited Route 17 South onto Garden State Plaza Boulevard on the mall’s property, where witnesses who had followed the Acura blocked it in traffic about a half-mile from the crash scene and flagged down a Paramus police officer. Investigators determined that Rodriguez was operating the Acura under the influence of alcohol and with a suspended license, and charged him Oct. 20 with second-degree death by auto (N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5a), second-degree knowingly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death (N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5.1), third-degree endangering an injured victim (N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1.2a), third-degree driving while suspended in a collision resulting in death (N.J.S.A. 2C:40-22a), and motor vehicle summonses including driving while intoxicated.

The investigation is being conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under Chief Jeff Angermeyer and the Paramus Police Department under Chief Robert M. Guidetti, with assistance from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office and the Bergen County Fatal Accident Task Force (including the Leonia and East Rutherford police departments).

More Bergen TV coverage of Bergen County courts and public safety: Witnesses boxed in driver after fatal Paramus, N.J., hit-and-run; Teaneck, N.J., THC meetup turned gunpoint robbery, prosecutor says; and Franklin Lakes, N.J., ‘Flipping NJ’ investor pleads guilty to fraud.

Sources

• Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office release, Oct. 20, 2026: “Tarrytown, NY Man Charged in Paramus Fatal Hit-and-Run” and Oct. 23, 2026 follow-up release on the arrest of Michael C. Marciano and additional CDS charges against Estuardo G. Rodriguez (as reported by NJ.com, Daily Voice and RLS Media)
• Photo: Route 17 South at the Garden State Plaza exit, Paramus (Famartin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)