A motorist has been sentenced for causing the death of a motorcyclist in a crash that occurred on Route 1 north in Edison almost two years ago.
On June 27, 2020, at approximately 2:19 a.m., Edison police officers responded to a motor vehicle crash involving a sedan and a motorcycle. An investigation by Detective Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Captain Dominick Masi of the Edison Police Department determined that Roland Q. Lyles, 31, of East Orange, who was driving a white Nissan Sentra, was traveling northbound on Route 1 near Grandview Avenue at a high rate of speed when he struck the victim’s motorcycle.
The driver of the motorcycle, Richard Diaz, 51, of Brooklyn, New York, was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick following the crash. He died on June 30, 2020, from his injuries.
Lyles was subsequently charged with and pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated.
On April 22, 2022, following sentencing arguments by Assistant Prosecutor Keith Abrams, Lyles was sentenced by Judge Thomas Buck to 10 years in state prison on one count of second-degree vehicular homicide subject to the No Early Release Act with three years of parole.
Upon his release, Lyles will be subject to a 25-year loss of license.
- This information was provided by Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Thomas Bryan of the Edison Police Department on April 26.