NEWARK, N.J. — A Hoboken man fleeing police died yesterday, authorities said, after he was shot in the head by a Belleville officer he had just hit with his car.

Edwin Munoz, 22, died yesterday afternoon following a car chase that began in Belleville and ended in Newark, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. A passenger in the car, Japhet Lopez, 25, of Newark, was uninjured and later was charged with attempted burglary, eluding police and resisting arrest.

A second passenger in the 1992 Toyota Camry Munoz was driving ran away and remains at large, Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said.

Officer Robert Kane, 42, was hospitalized, but was released several hours later, township Police Chief Joseph Rotonda said.

Kane's partner, eight-year veteran Glenn Zadroga, 38, injured his hand during the chase but was treated at the scene, Rotonda said.

Dow said the chase started at 2:10 a.m. when the patrolling Belleville officers saw a man trying to break into a car on Franklin Street.

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