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MOUNT LAUREL, NJ – A 40-year-old California man has been arrested and charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed an electric bicycle rider earlier this week in Mount Laurel Township, authorities announced.
According to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Mount Laurel Police Chief Timothy Hudnall, Thair Maroki of El Cajon, California, faces charges of second-degree vehicular homicide and second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Police responded around 12:15 a.m. on December 29 to the 1100 block of Route 73 South after receiving a report of an unresponsive man lying on the shoulder of the roadway. The victim, identified as 49-year-old Anthony Caprio III of Magnolia, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Investigators used surveillance footage from nearby businesses and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to determine that Caprio had been struck by a white 2022 Jeep Cherokee that fled following the collision. A law enforcement alert was issued with the vehicle’s California license plate, leading Lyndhurst Police in Bergen County to locate the SUV on January 2.
Maroki was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly. He is scheduled for a first court appearance in Superior Court, where prosecutors plan to seek his pretrial detention.
The investigation was conducted by the Mount Laurel Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, with assistance from the Lyndhurst Police Department and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The lead investigators are Detective Kevin Scheuren of the MLPD and Detective Andrew Welsh of the BCPO.
