Police make arrest in hit and run that killed 12-year-old West Windsor girl

Police in West Windsor announced on Friday evening that they have arrested a suspect in the hit-and-run that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old resident of the township and her dog.

Ananta Ahuja, a seventh grader at Community Middle School, was walking her dog at about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 27 when she was struck by a vehicle. Police and emergency responders arrived on the scene to find Ahuja and her dog on the roadway in the middle of the intersection of Rabbit Hill Road and Abbington Lane.

The West Windsor Division of Fire and Emergency Services rendered first aid to Ahuja and transported her to Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, where she died as a result of her injuries. Her dog died at the scene.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a 65-year-old male on Rabbit Hill Road struck Ahuja and her dog while they were crossing the road. A comprehensive investigation was conducted with the help of the serious collision response team for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation found that both Ahuja and her dog were in the crosswalk and had already made it past one side of the road when the gray Jeep Grand Cherokee struck them.

The driver of the gray Jeep, West Windsor resident Iftekhar Hossain, knowingly left the scene of the collision and failed to report it, police said. He did return to the scene about ten minutes later. The investigation found that Hossain had operated his vehicle “without due caution and circumspection,” and that he failed to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Police said neither speeding nor cell phone use contributed to the crash. Hossain was charged Friday with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident. Police said he was arrested and transported to the Mercer County Correction Center pending a detention hearing.

More than 3,100 residents of West Windsor have signed a change.org petition calling on the municipality to increase street lighting and implement strict speed limits in the township as a result of the tragedy.

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.

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