A 31-year-old Spring Lake man was struck and killed by a vehicle in Jersey City early this morning shortly after he refused a ride from Jersey City police officers who wanted to take him to a safe place to wait for his brother, authorities said.

The bizarre tragedy began to unfold around 2:30 a.m. when the man's car spun out of control while he was heading east on the Carson-Nguyen Memorial Bridge (Lincoln Highway Bridge), which links Jersey City and Kearny, according to police reports.

Police officers who responded to the scene found the car against a curb and facing west, reports said, noting that when they tried to put the car in gear, they couldn't shift it into reverse.

Police reports said the officers called a tow truck for the vehicle and offered to take the man to the Shell gas station at Communipaw Avenue and Route 440 on the Jersey City side of the bridge to wait for his brother, who the man said is a detective in the Newark Police Department.

But the man refused, saying "I'm not riding with no Jersey City cops," according to police reports.

Assured by the man he would wait for his brother on the pedestrian walk pathway, which the officers deemed safe, the officers left the scene.

But an hour later, police were called to Communipaw Avenue near Route 440 on the report of a pedestrian struck.

A Jersey City woman told police she was driving eastbound on Communipaw Avenue when she struck a man who was in the middle of the street and wearing dark clothing, police reports said.

The man was rushed to the Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health where he was pronounced dead at 3:53 a.m., police reports said.

The incident remains under investigation. No charges have apparently been filed against the Jersey City driver.

A spokeswoman for the Jersey City Police Department did not release the name of the dead man because she wasn't sure if his family had been notified.