On Sept. 12 a Monmouth County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Eric Pereira, 20, of Jackson, charging him with vehicular homicide that resulted in one death and three injuries, Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr. announced.
The charges resulted from an April 2 motor vehicle collision involving three cars that occurred in the area of milepost 120 on the Garden State Parkway near the border of Monmouth and Middlesex counties at Matawan-Old Bridge.
According to a press release, a joint investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police revealed that on April 2 at about 11 a.m., Pereira was driving southbound in the local lanes of the Garden State Parkway at a high rate of speed while intoxicated. Thereafter, Pereira struck a van from the rear, causing the van to collide with a guardrail, overturn and skid into the express lanes. As the van entered the express lanes, it struck another vehicle that was traveling southbound.
The driver of the van, identified as Kevin Donnelly, 43, of Middletown, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Donnelly’s passengers, fiancée Erin Small, 43, of Middletown, and her cousin Kenneth MacKenzie, 48, of Jersey City, were both injured during the collision.
Additionally, the driver of the vehicle that was struck by the van, Keith Wegle, 49, of Toms River, also sustained injuries. Small was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, while MacKenzie and Wegle were transported to local hospitals, according to the press release.
A subsequent investigation of the incident revealed that Pereira was operating his motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content in excess of the 0.08 percent legal limit and that he was speeding at the time of the collision.
On April 25, Pereira was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide and assault by auto. He was released on $200,000 bail with no 10 percent option.
If convicted of second-degree vehicular homicide, Pereira faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in state prison, and would be required to serve 85 percent before being eligible for parole pursuant to the No Early Release Act.
If convicted of third-degree assault by auto, Pereira faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in state prison for each of the three counts.
Pereira was also charged with driving an unregistered motor vehicle; operation of a motor vehicle while in possession of drugs; unsafe lane change; reckless driving; use of a wireless telephone while driving; underage driving while intoxicated; and driving while intoxicated, according to the press release.
Pereira was required to surrender his driver’s license to the New Jersey State Police.