The Attorney General’s Office today identified the decedents and the North Bergen police lieutenant involved in a fatal vehicle crash that occurred September 28, 2025, in North Bergen, New Jersey. The civilian drivers who died during the incident have been identified as Joseph Aziz, 20, of Jersey City, and Bryan Rivera, 24, of North Bergen.
According to the preliminary investigation, North Bergen Police Lieutenant Jason Appello, who was driving a marked police vehicle, began following a Honda Accord driven by Mr. Aziz after the Accord was allegedly involved in a traffic violation at the intersection of 70th Street and Tonnelle Avenue. Approximately one minute later, at 11:18 p.m., the Accord collided with an uninvolved Toyota Corolla driven by Mr. Rivera on Tonnelle Avenue, between 50th and 51st streets. Mr. Aziz and Mr. Rivera were seriously injured in the collision and were later pronounced deceased. One passenger in the Accord and three passengers in the Corolla were all taken to a hospital. The passenger in the Accord has been released from the hospital, but the passengers in the Corolla remain in the hospital.
An ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability into the circumstances that led up to and transpired during this incident, and no further information is available at this time.
A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.
The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.
Further information about how fatal police encounters are investigated in New Jersey under the Independent Prosecutor Directive can be found here:
https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/ag-Directive-2019-4.pdf
