Crime & Safety
Ridgewood Doctor Charged with DWI Following Telephone Pole Crashes
Police claim 37-year-old Victor Melt-Campos crashed into a pole, fled the scene and was seriously injured after crashing into a second utility pole early Sunday morning.
A Ridgewood medical doctor is facing ten traffic citations – including drunk driving in a school zone – for allegedly striking a telephone pole and fleeing the scene before striking another pole just moments later.
Ridgewood police claim Victor Melt-Campos, 37, drove into a telephone pole at the intersection of Maple and Franklin Avenue at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Before waiting for authorities to arrive, police allege Melt-Campos sped up East Ridgewood Avenue in the oncoming lane where he struck another utility pole in front of Ridgewood High School.
Both airbags of the new Honda CRV deployed and the front of the vehicle was found on the sidewalk, crumpled. The force of the impact split the pole at its base and pushed it several feet. Police say Melt-Campos was the only occupant of the car.
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Emergency workers and firefighters extricated the victim from the vehicle and rushed him to St. Joseph's trauma center in Paterson, authorities said.
Melt-Campos suffered a serious head injury in the accident, Ridgewood Police Cpt. Jacqueline Luthcke said, citing the police report. His current medical condition was not available.
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Melt-Campos, whose online resume includes a stint as a research intern at Harvard Medical School, is the founder of Ridgewood-based iTelemedicine.
On his LinkedIn page, Melt-Campos describes the firm as "an independent nonprofit medical research organization oriented to the advocacy of the use of new technologies to transform medicine. iTelemedicine has the mission to lower health care costs through technology and innovation."
Among the citations issued to Melt-Campos were DWI in a school zone, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, unsafe lane change, speeding over a sidewalk, failure to keep right and careless driving.
He faces an upcoming date in Ridgewood Municipal Court.
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