Driver charged with two counts of homicide for fatal crash
WILLINGBORO » Prosecutors say something sketchy was in Amish Patel’s system when he was involved in a crash that killed a couple.
Patel, 29, of Delanco, was charged with two counts of homicide for causing the deaths of a husband and wife in the jug handle at Route 130 and Bridgeboro Road in Willingboro Township on Jan. 13, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday in a press release. Robert Stephens, 52, and his wife Janet, 50, of Burlington Township, were killed in the crash.
Authorities say Patel was brought up on the first-degree aggravated manslaughter charges based on the results of toxicology tests conducted on blood drawn from the Delanco man following the crash.
Prosecutors would not release the results of the tests because they cannot be discussed outside of the courtroom under the Rules of Professional Conduct, the statement reads.
Patel, who was treated and released following the collision, also faces municipal court summonses for driving while intoxicated and speeding, prosecutors said.
The 29-year-old was arrested Friday afternoon at the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation revealed that the Stephens’ minivan was stopped in the jug handle waiting to cross Route 130 onto Bridgeboro Road when Patel, who was traveling northbound on Route 130, lost control of his BMW 440, entered the jug handle and crashed into the minivan at approximately 4:30 p.m., prosecutors said.
The force of the impact propelled the minivan over the guardrail and down an embankment, where it submerged into a body of water that is part of Olympia Lakes. Efforts to resuscitate the couple after they were pulled from the water were unsuccessful, authorities said.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Thaddeus E. Drummond, supervisor of the BCPO Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit.
The collision is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Willingboro Township Police Department. Assistance was provided at the scene by the Delran Township Police Department, Edgewater Park Township Police Department and the New Jersey State Police, prosecutors said.
The lead investigators are BCPO Detective Michael Reagan and Willingboro Township Police Detective Ed Walker.