Linden Man Found Guilty Of Fatal Drunk Driving Crash

LINDEN, NJ — A Linden man was found guilty of charges in connection with a crash where he was driving drunk where his passenger died in 2016, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan announced Friday.

Edward M. Plaza, 46, was convicted on a charge of second-degree vehicular homicide Thursday in connection with the death of 41-year-old Valerie Edwards, also of Linden.

On May 21, 2016 at around 6:20 p.m., Plaza was driving his 1998 Lexus sedan on Pleasant Street in Linden with Edwards, also of Linden, in the passenger seat when he left the roadway and struck a fire hydrant, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutors Derek Nececkas and Estrella Lopez, who prosecuted the case.

Edwards was rushed to a local hospital, where she died from blunt-force injuries later the same day, Nececkas and Lopez said.

Plaza suffered neck and arm injuries in the crash, spending two days in a local hospital before being released.

It was found that Plaza had a blood-alcohol level of 0.138, nearly twice the legal limit, nearly an hour and a half after the crash, according to a Linden Police Department investigation led by Investigator Peter Hammer.

An open beer bottle and other unopened bottles of beer were also found inside the Lexus. Additionally, no skid marks or other evidence, showing that Plaza tried to apply the brakes before to hitting the hydrant were found, according to the report.

Plaza is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, Dec. 7 where he faces a sentence of 5 to 10 years in state prison, with at least 85 percent of the term to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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