North Bergen Man Enters Guilty Plea In Vehicular Homicide

North Bergen Man Enters Guilty Plea In Vehicular Homicide


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Raymond Worrall

PHONE:  (201) 795-6400 Ext. 6737

EMAIL:  rworrall@hcpo.org

DATE:  Tuesday, June 4, 2019

NORTH BERGEN MAN ENTERS GUILTY PLEA IN DOUBLE VEHICULAR HOMICIDE

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez has released the following information:

On May 31, 2019, Michael Hansen, age 40, of North Bergen, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree Death by Auto related to the deaths of Russell Maffei and Marie Tauro in a North Bergen fatal collision that occurred on April 2, 2017.

Hansen, who was a Hudson County Corrections Officer at the time of the collision, admitted to recklessly causing the death of the victims while being intoxicated and within 1,000 feet of a school zone. The North Bergen man said he had been drinking alcohol prior to the collision.

On April 2, 2017, shortly after 8:00 p.m., North Bergen Police Officers responding to a report of a pedestrian struck, found Maffei and Tauro, both Jersey City residents, lying near the intersection of Paterson Plank Road and Kennedy Boulevard. They were pronounced dead later that evening.

Members of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office and the North Bergen Police Department arrested Hansen shortly before 4:00 a.m. the following day. Hansen was indicted by a Hudson County Grand Jury in October 2017.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Hansen is expected to face 20 years in state prison — 10 years for the death of each victim, to be served consecutively. Under the No Early Release Act, Hansen would be required to serve 85 percent of the 20 year sentence before he is eligible for parole. He would also have 10 years of parole supervision after he is released from state prison.

Sentencing in this case has been scheduled for August 2, 2019, before the Honorable Patrick Arre, J.S.C., who accepted the guilty plea.

The State is represented by Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit.