Wife Faces Jail Time In Crash That Killed Husband In Delran: Cops

A 38-year-old Mount Laurel woman has been sentenced to five years in New Jersey state prison after pleading guilty to causing an accident that killed her husband in Delran in 2017, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced.

Tameka Lawson previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree vehicular homicide and a motor vehicle summons for driving while intoxicated in the death of 38-year-old Jamar Rentie, Coffina said. Rentie died when their car struck a utility pole and flipped over in a wooded area in Delran in November 2017, Coffina said.

Lawson must serve 85 percent of her sentence before becoming eligible for parole. The state had been asking for a seven-year sentence.

Rentie was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred at about 11:15 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017, in the 100 block of Hartford Road. He was a front-seat passenger in a car being driven south on Hartford Road by Lawson.

They were both extricated from the car by the Delran Fire Department. Lawson was taken by the Delran Emergency Squad to Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro, where she was released after an evaluation.

She was initially charged after the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office received the results of toxicology tests conducted on blood drawn from Lawson following the crash. She was indicted earlier this year.

There were 591 fatal crashes in New Jersey in 2017, which is the most recent year for which statewide data is available, according to New Jersey State Police. In 158 of those, alcohol and/or drugs were a major contributing factor.

The number of crashes increased by seven from the previous year, while the number of deaths increased by five, according to police.

“It is extremely disappointing, and unacceptable, that fatalities caused by impaired driving continue to remain at these levels,” Coffina said. “There are options such as ridesharing services, or choosing a designated driver. Cases such as this are particularly tragic because they are preventable.”