Man Purposely Rams SUV Into Vehicle With 5 People Inside, Police Say

A Bloomfield man turned himself in Wednesday after fleeing a West Caldwell parking lot earlier this month when he purposely rammed his SUV into another vehicle filled with five people following an apparent argument, police said.

Joseph Deleva was arrested for crashing his 2003 GMC Yukon into a 2012 Jeep occupied by five people in their 20s on Jan. 4 and then fleeing the parking lot of the Regency Plaza shopping center at 555 Passaic Ave., according to police.

Deleva, 49, turned himself in to police headquarters on Wednesday, according to police.

He is facing five counts of aggravated assault, and weapons charges, according to police.

According to police, Deleva got into an argument with the five people while they were outside of their vehicles at about 1:45 a.m. on Jan. 4, according to police.

When the five people got into their Jeep in the shopping center’s parking lot, Deleva purposely hit their SUV with enough force to spin it around, according to police. He then backed up and sped away, according to police.

The occupants of the Jeep caught part of Deleva's license plate and provided police with a description of him, according to police.

The investigation was led by West Caldwell Police Cpl. William Styskal.

Deleva is being held in the Essex County Jail in Newark of $50,000 bail for each charge.