Resident charged with leaving hit & run scene

JACKSON — A Jackson resident has been charged in connection with a Jan. 25 hit-and-run incident that occurred on Brewers Bridge Road. A 16-year-old boy was injured in the incident.

According to information provided by Jackson police, William Kleber, 20, of Jackson, was arrested on Feb. 2 and charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash resulting in serious bodily injury, failure to maintain lane, careless driving and failing to report a motor vehicle crash.

Jackson police Sgt. Brian Geoghegan said in a press release that on Jan. 25 the Jackson Police Department responded to a hit-and-run motor vehicle crash that occurred between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“It was learned that a 16-year-old male pedestrian, a Jackson resident, was walking along the shoulder of Brewers Bridge Road in the vicinity of Metedeconk Trail when he was struck by a vehicle that fled the scene,” Geoghegan said.

The boy sustained what police said was a serious head injury and was initially transported to Kimball Medical Center, Lakewood. He was subsequently flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick,

On Jan. 26 police officers conducted an informational checkpoint on Brewers Bridge Road and requested assistance from the public in helping to identify the vehicle that struck the boy. As a result of that checkpoint, police were led to William Kleber, according to police.

After the charges were lodged against him, bail for Kleber was set at $25,000 with a 10 percent option.

As a result of the investigation, Linda Kleber, 46, of Jackson, who is William Kleber’s mother, was charged with hindering the apprehension of her son. Her bail was set at $7,500 with a 10 percent option.

Police said the charge that was lodged against Linda Kleber stemmed from the assistance she allegedly gave her son in making repairs to a damaged 1999 Mercury Mountaineer SUV and from her statements to Detective Mitch Cowit and Officers William Simon, George Vidalis and Trevor Crowley of the Traffic Safety Bureau, who are investigating the hit-and-run incident.