New Brunswick Man Charged With DWI In Fatal Crash

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A New Brunswick man has been criminally charged connected to a fatal crash that occurred this past Friday, Dec. 9: Police say he was driving drunk and killed a 20-year-old local woman. He also did not have a driver's license, said police.

At 10:48 p.m. Friday, police responded to the intersection of Suydam Street and Railroad Avenue following a report of a crash.

Upon their arrival, authorities located Jose Manuel Garcia-Vazquez, 24, of New Brunswick, who was driving a transport van that collided into a Honda Civic driven by Karen Garcia-Puga, 20, of New Brunswick.

Garcia-Puga sustained serious injuries and was transported to a Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where she was later pronounced deceased.

An investigation by Officer Henry Gliottone of the New Brunswick Police Department and Detective James Alleva of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Garcia-Vazquez was operating his vehicle under the influence, said the Middlesex County Prosecutor.

He is also an unlicensed driver.

Garcia-Vazquez was arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, third-degree causing a death while unlicensed and driving while intoxicated.

Garcia-Vazquez is being held in the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center pending a pre-trial detention hearing in Superior Court.

The investigation is active and continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Gliottone of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5005 or Detective Alleva of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-4011.