Around 6:24 PM on June 10, 2023, Patrolman Nicholas Lisa with the West Milford Police Department responded to a motor vehicle accident with injuries involving a 2006 Toyota Scion 2-door and a 2015 BMW X5 on Lakeside Road. He and Patrolman Wunk were the first on scene, and they made contact with a registered nurse who was attending to a female that was entrapped inside the Toyota. The female in the Toyota was identified as Jessica Lima. The officers were informed that Jessica was unresponsive but she was breathing. While placing a mask on Jessica, Patrolman Lisa detected the odor of alcohol and suspected that she was impaired.
Patrolman Lisa subsequently made contact with the occupants of BMW. The driver was identified as 71-year-old David Thierman and his passenger was 58-year-old Marina Alexandrova. Marina informed the officers that there were 2 dogs inside the vehicle, and 1 of the dogs was unresponsive. After gathering their information, Patrolman Lisa returned to the Toyota and worked to extricate Jessica from the vehicle. After Jessica was extricated, she was placed on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance rig. The ambulance rig transported Jessica to the Greenwood Lake Airport, where she was medevaced to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson. The driver of the BMW was also transported to St. Joseph’s, but he was transported in an ambulance rig.
Sergeant Frassa contacted PCPO Prosecutor Liaison Loren Youmans to advise her of the incident and that this was a DWI case involving assault by auto charges. She was asked to obtain a court order for a blood draw from a Superior Court judge. Patrolman Lisa later responded to St. Joseph’s to obtain her blood sample, but he was advised that Jessica was still in the trauma unit. At this point, it was determined that they would determine her blood alcohol content through a Dyal Subpoena instead.
Marina declined further medical attention, but animal control was called to scene to retrieve both dogs from the scene. The dogs were transported to Oradell Medical Hospital for further evaluation. The following day, Patrolman Lisa called Marina to inform her that she could retrieve her property at Police Headquarters. At this time, she informed Patrolman Lisa that one of the dogs was now deceased and that her husband was in the ICU at St. Joseph’s.
The blood test results would later reveal that Jessica’s BAC level was at 0.15%, which was nearly double the legal limit of 0.08%. They obtained a warrant to examine the event data recorder in Jessica’s vehicle. While they were unable to determine the speed at the moment of impact, they did determined that the speedometer was pinned at approximately 58 MPH. This was above the speed limit of 45 MPH on Lakeside Road. Based on this information as well as witness accounts, it was determined that Jessica was driving northbound and she swerved into the southbound lane and collided with the southbound BMW.
Jessica was issued the following traffic citations:
-Operating under the influence
-Reckless driving
-Speeding
-Failure to wear seat belt
-Failure to keep right
-Failure to maintain lane
Jessica was also criminally charged with 2 counts of assault by auto (2C:12-1C(2)).
According to court records, Jessica has a prior DWI arrest from Riverdale, New Jersey on February 25, 2023.
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