Fort Lee Man’s Charges in Fatal Crash Dismissed
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK,N.J. (March 20, 2017) — Charges have been dismissed against the Fort Lee man who killed one friend and seriously injured another in a July 24, 2014 devastating single-car crash in Ridgefield.
Tamer Ammar, now 22, will never be in physical or mental condition that would make him competent to stand trial, defense attorney Robert Biagiotti of Hackensack said in court Monday, March 20. Biagiotti told Presiding Judge Susan J. Steel his client had been evaluated by three psychiatrists, and all three medical professionals agreed Ammar has traumatic brain damage that makes it impossible for him to participate in his defense.
Steele agreed, and dismissed all pending charges against Ammar.
Biagiotti told Attorney Weekly today that Ammar can walk some, and communicate a little, but he will never recover.
“He has no independence,†Biagiotti said. “His parents must care for him.
“It was a terrible accident and a tragedy for all three families.â€
Police said at the time of the accident that Ammar was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol at the time of the crash that killed his friend and front seat passenger, Miles Reme, 20, and seriously injured James Racanelli, also 20. All three men were from Fort Lee and attended school together.
Ammar was traveling northbound on 1/9 – Broad Ave. “at a high rate of speed,†according to the prosecutor’s statement at the time, and lost control of his Honda Civic. The car traveled approximately 1,400 feet on the sidewalk, slamming into two bus stop signs, and crossed over a median into the southbound lane. It stopped when it slammed into a stone building at the northwest corner of the intersection of Broad and Edgewater Road that is home to an accounting firm.
The men traveling with Ammar, Reme and Racanelli, were fellow athletes at Fort Lee High School where Ammar played football, Reme baseball and Racanelli was a wrestler.
Motor vehicle records show that Ammar had his driver’s license suspended for seven months after being arrested for driving under the influence in Fairview in 2013. He also had a record of reckless driving in Virginia, prescription drug distribution on Connecticut, and marijuana distribution in Fort Lee in 2013.
Racanelli’s family filed a lawsuit in 2015 that seeks to hold Ammar’s father responsible for their son’s injuries, contending he should have known of his son’s DWI and criminal history and that giving him the car under such circumstances was negligent.
Ammar’s injuries included bleeding on the brain. He was in a coma for months in St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, before being transferred to rehab. He was released to his family’s custody without bail, in part due to the cost of his medical care.
In addition to death by auto and reckless endangerment, Ammar had also been issued several traffic summonses for driving under the influence, reckless driving, careless driving, driving over the sidewalk and failing to keep right.
