The panic and confusion that followed the fatal crash involving 17-year-old Greek-American Maria Nioti and her friend Isabella Salas in Cranford, New Jersey, are captured in the first 911 calls made to authorities on September 29.

The incident occurred when the girls were struck by a black SUV, allegedly driven by 17-year-old Vincent Battiloro, the former boyfriend of Maria Nioti, with a descent from the Greek island of Rhodes.

“Please send an ambulance — hurry! I don’t know what happened. Someone is lying in front of my house,” a woman is heard telling the 911 dispatcher.
“What happened?” the dispatcher asks.
“A black SUV swerved and hit some people… two people — hurry, please come quickly,” the caller replies.

The recordings, released by News 12 New Jersey, reveal the distress of witnesses in the moments following the crash.

“No one is conscious — they’re dead, it’s fatal,” one caller says.
“There’s a girl here in the street… I just came outside — there’s a girl and a car, oh my God, please hurry!” another witness can be heard saying, according to the New York Post.

Arrest and Release of the 17-Year-Old Driver

Police records show that Vincent Battiloro was arrested shortly after the crash but was released eight hours later into the custody of his father, Jeffrey Battiloro, a retired police officer, without being charged at the time.

“Why was he released to his father after everything that happened?”
asked attorney Brent Brammy, who represents Maria Nioti’s family.
“The family wants to know why he wasn’t charged that same night,” he told the New York Post.

According to official reports, Battiloro was taken into custody around 6:15 p.m. at his home but was released around 2 a.m. the following day.

A lawyer for the Nioti family said the girl’s relatives want to know whether Battiloro’s father’s background in law enforcement may have influenced the handling of the case following the fatal crash.