Ex-Police Officer From Toms River Sentenced In Fatal Drunken Parkway Crash

FREEHOLD, NJ — A former North Jersey police officer from Toms River has been sentenced for a 2021 Garden State Parkway crash that killed a couple from Maryland, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

John P. McClave III, 38, was sentenced to 17 years in prison in the Oct. 9, 2021, crash on the Parkway in Tinton Falls that killed Angel L. Acevedo Jr., 40, and his wife, Daniela Correia Salles, 35, of Baltimore, Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said.

He was sentenced on Friday to 8-1/2 years in prison on each of two counts of vehicular homicide, with the sentences to run consecutively, the prosecutor's office said. The sentence are subject to the No Early Release Act, which requires 85 percent of the sentenced be served before he becomes eligible for parole.

McClave was convicted by an Ocean County jury on March 12 following a trial before Superior Court Judge David M. Fritch. The case was moved from Monmouth to Ocean County on Nov. 13, 2024, to avoid a potential conflict of interest, the prosecutor's office said.

Authorities said McClave was on his way to work at his job as a police officer in Hillside, Union County, when his 2018 GMC Canyon pickup truck drifted off the Garden State Parkway in the area of the Parkway overpass near Asbury Avenue and hit the 2020 Toyota Corolla driven by Acevedo.

Investigators determined McClave’s truck did not change direction or slow down significantly after it left the Parkway lanes, causing it to become airborne when it hit an embankment before hitting the couple's car, authorities said.

Acevedo and Correia Salles sustained multiple severe injuries and died at the scene, authorities said. McClave was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment of serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Investigators later determined McClave was driving his vehicle recklessly while under the influence of intoxicating substances at the time of the collision, including alcohol and THC, authorities said.

"The impact that this incident had on our community is a reminder of the danger imposed when driving under the influence of intoxicating substances such as marijuana and alcohol. Such behavior cannot be accepted or tolerated," Santiago said.