Search on for hit-and-run driver who seriously injured NJ police officer on Route 80

🚨A hit-and-run driver struck a Saddle Brook police officer early Sunday on Route 80

🚨Nicholas Genuario was seriously injured while speaking with the driver

🚨State Police are asking witnesses and anyone with information to come forward

SADDLE BROOK — The search is on for a hit-and-run driver who left a New Jersey police officer seriously injured early Sunday morning.

Saddle Brook police officer Nicholas Genuario was standing outside a gray Nissan Maxima around 4:30 a.m. in the local lanes of Route 80 east near Exit 62, by the Garden State Parkway, speaking with the driver when he and the stopped car were struck by a vehicle that did not stop.

State Police said Genuario was "seriously injured" and was taken to a hospital. The three people inside the Maxima were not hurt.

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State Police ask witnesses to come forward

Witnesses to the crash, or anyone with information about events before, during or after the incident, are asked to contact the Troop "B" Totowa Station at 973-785-9412.

According to the Saddle Brook Police Department's Facebook page, Genuario joined the department as a special law enforcement officer in 2019. He graduated as part of Bergen County Police Academy Class No. 132 and became an SBPD officer in 2024.

"Genuario is a respected officer and a vital part of our law enforcement family," Saddle Brook Police Chief John A. Zotollo Jr. wrote on the department's Facebook page.

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