TJN: The driver whose van struck and killed a 12-year-old girl crossing Saddle River Road has been charged with drunken driving, Ramapo police said yesterday.Alexander Alexeev, 21, of Spring Valley was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving without a license, both misdemeanors, Sgt. Mark Emma said. He was being held yesterday in the county jail on $50,000 bail.

The girl, Leah Ausband of Henry Hudson Parkway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, was hit by a 1994 Dodge Ram van at 3:20 p.m. Thursday as she crossed Saddle River Road to a yeshiva’s day camp program.

Police said the girl appeared to have walked between cars that were stopped at a red light, police said.

As she stepped into the northbound lane from between the cars, she was struck by the van driven by Alexeev, investigators said. He did not appear to be speeding and he was driving in the correct lane, police said.

The girl was pulled under the van and suffered serious head injuries. She was taken by Chevra Hatzoloh ambulance to Nyack Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:12 p.m.

“He didn’t appear to be driving recklessly,” said Emma, who heads the department’s accident investigation unit.

Officers screened Alexeev for drug or alcohol use as part of a standard procedure in a fatal accident. Based on the initial results, officers charged Alexeev with driving while intoxicated.

Police are waiting for the results of blood tests to determine if they will file additional charges. Emma said the results from the state police laboratory could come next week.

Alexeev, a Russian national who worked as a painter, was driving his employer’s van at the time of the accident. The van had Connecticut license plates.

Emma said police were investigating Alexeev’s immigration status and his identity. Emma said Alexeev had identification with his name, but he didn’t have a driver’s license or identification issued in the United States.

Alexeev showed police an international driver’s license. Investigators were checking on the status of that license and to see if the driver was licensed to drive anywhere else, Emma said.

Alexeev’s uncertain status and the girl’s death were reasons for the $50,000 bail set by Justice Rhoda Schoenberger. Emma said additional charges were possible pending the blood test results and a grand jury review.

Leah, who was visiting relatives in Monsey, was buried Thursday at a cemetery off Brick Church Road.

Police are waiting to talk to her family. Investigators picked up her broken glasses from the roadway following the crash.

“We want to give them back to the family,” Emma said. “We figure they’d want them.”