Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Raymond Hayducka of the South Brunswick Police Department announced today that a Bridgeton man was charged in connection with the fatal crash that occurred at the intersection of Route 1 and Ridge Road on April 12, 2024.
On April 12, 2024, at approximately 9:36 A.M., authorities responded to Route 1 and Ridge Road following the report of a crash. Upon their arrival, authorities located a tractor-trailer which had struck a passenger van in the intersection of Ridge Road and Route 1. The investigation revealed that the passenger van then collided with two other vehicles. Both the tractor-trailer and passenger van caught fire. The three people that were in the van were pronounced deceased at the scene; the driver, Charisse Nelson-Bailey, 24, of Princeton Junction, and both passengers Daniel Vida, 28, of Princeton Junction, and Maria Passalaris, 25, of Skillman.
An investigation led by Officer Bryan Sites of the South Brunswick Police Department and Sergeant Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that at the time of the collision, the tractor-trailer driven by Joseph Vega, 43, of Bridgeton, was transporting an oversized concrete load when it failed to stop for a red light at the intersection resulting in the fatal collision.
On May 29, 2024, Vega was charged with three counts of first-degree Aggravated Manslaughter and three counts of second-degree Vehicular Homicide. Today, July 3, 2024, Vega was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force in Georgia. He will be housed in Georgia pending extradition. Vega will be subject to a detention hearing upon his return to New Jersey.
The investigation is active and continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Sites of the South Brunswick Police Department at 732-329-4646 or Sergeant Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-4328.
As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Vega are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
