The Walmart driver whose truck collided with a van carrying the comedian Tracy Morgan and other performers had not slept for more than 24 hours before the crash, New Jersey prosecutors said on Monday.
Prosecutors in Middlesex County charged the truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Ga., on Saturday with one count of death by auto and several counts of assault by auto in connection with the pileup early that day on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike in Cranbury Township, about 45 miles from New York City. One comedian, James McNair, known as Jimmy Mack, was killed, and Mr. Morgan was critically injured.
In a criminal complaint released on Monday, prosecutors said that at the time of the crash, Mr. Roper had been operating the tractor-trailer “without having slept for a period in excess of 24 hours resulting in a motor vehicle accident.” In a statement issued on Monday, a Walmart spokeswoman, Brooke Buchanan, emphasized that the company believed Mr. Roper “was operating within the federal hours of service regulations,” which limit work shifts to 14 hours, with only 11 of those behind the wheel. She said the company was cooperating with the investigation.
Tracy Morgan, 45, a former cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” sustained serious injuries, including a broken leg, a broken femur, a broken nose and several broken ribs, his publicist said Sunday. Credit Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Under New Jersey law, a driver can be convicted of vehicular homicide if it is shown that he had been without sleep for at least 24 hours when the accident occurred.
A preliminary police investigation found that Mr. Roper had failed to perceive slow-moving traffic ahead of him, and, at the last minute, swerved in an attempt to avoid a collision. The complaint did not explain how the New Jersey State Police determined that Mr. Roper had been sleep deprived.
The crash occurred as Mr. Morgan, 45, a former cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” was traveling to New York City from a comedy show in Delaware. Around 1 a.m., a Walmart tractor-trailer collided with the back of the van, a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, setting off a chain reaction that involved four other vehicles.
Mr. Morgan sustained injuries including a broken leg, a broken nose and several broken ribs. After the crash, he and his assistant, Jeff Millea, 36, were airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. Another comedian, Ardie Fuqua, 43, was also injured.
By Monday, Mr. Morgan was responsive but remained in critical but stable condition. “This recovery will be arduous,” his publicist, Lewis Kay, said in a statement.
The truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, was charged with one count of death by auto and several counts of assault by auto in connection with the accident on Saturday.CreditNew Jersey State Police, via Associated Press Photo
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that it had sent a team of investigators to New Jersey to focus on the larger issue of the safety of commercial truck operators. The board noted that the number of fatal large truck crashes has steadily risen.In 2012, there were about 333,000 large truck crashes, which resulted in 3,921 deaths and more than 104,000 injuries. Of those killed, about 73 percent were occupants of vehicles other than the large truck.
“The upward trend in crashes, fatalities and injuries involving large trucks is a cause for concern,” said the statement, prepared by Don Karol, director of the board’s Office of Highway Safety.
“Too often, responses to our recommendations have been slow or, in some cases, nonexistent,” the statement said. “It should not take additional crashes and loss of life to inspire change.”
Mr. Roper’s next appearance in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey is scheduled Wednesday. He was released Saturday after posting $50,000 bail.
