A motorist has been charged in the suspected wrong-way crash that killed four adolescents on the New Jersey Turnpike on Sunday, October 19.
Christopher Neff of Westminster, Colorado, was charged with vehicular murder, aggravated manslaughter, weapon possession, and other offenses after reportedly driving the wrong way on the New Jersey Turnpike, which resulted in Sunday’s fatal crash, according to NBC 10 Philadelphia.
PEOPLE has contacted the New Jersey State Police for comment.
According to NBC 10, court filings show that Neff, 41, was driving under the influence of alcohol and had a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating” from his breath after the incident.
Police claimed Neff was carrying hollow-point ammo at the time of the collision.
Neff’s blood alcohol level was allegedly more than double the legal limit after the accident. He is currently being treated at a nearby hospital for fractures in both legs, a fractured arm, and other injuries received in the collision, according to the site.
According to a statement released by New Jersey State Police, the accident occurred when a Dodge pickup truck was traveling the wrong way in the southbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike and collided with a Mazda SUV near milepost 1.3 in Carneys Point Township on Sunday, Oct. 19, at around 12:40 a.m. local time.
Following the incident, the SUV was apparently hit by a tractor-trailer moving in the right lane behind it. The tractor-trailer’s driver, a 29-year-old guy from Nova Scotia, Canada, was not wounded, according to NJ.com.
Yaakov Kilberg, the SUV’s 19-year-old driver, and his three 18-year-old passengers, Aharon Lebovits, Shlomo Cohen, and Chaim Grossman, were all killed, according to reports. Grossman was from Fallsburg, New York, while the other three young men lived in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Loved ones informed NBC station WCAU that the kids were all close friends who had just graduated. They had hardly started their road trip when the awful event occurred.
“It’s a horrific tragedy,” Lebovits’ brother, Shloimy Lebovits, told the publication.
People with information concerning the collision are encouraged to call the Troop “D” Moorestown Station investigative office at 609-860-9000, extension 3226.
