Union County Ex-Cop Gets 17 Years In Deadly Drunk Driving Crash

UNION COUNTY, NJ —A 38-year-old former Hillside police officer has been sentenced to 17 years in state prison in connection with a 2021 crash that killed a husband and wife in Monmouth County, prosecutors announced Thursday.

John P. McClave III, of Toms River, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge David M. Fritch in Ocean County after previously being convicted on two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide.

According to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, McClave received two consecutive 8.5-year prison terms — one for each victim. Under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, he must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Prosecutors said the crash happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2021, on Asbury Avenue near the Garden State Parkway overpass in Tinton Falls.

Investigators said McClave was driving a 2018 GMC Canyon pickup truck when the vehicle left the roadway, became airborne after hitting an embankment, and slammed into a Toyota Corolla occupied by 40-year-old Angel L. Acevedo Jr. and his wife, 35-year-old Daniela Correia Salles.

Both victims, who were from Baltimore, were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Read the full story of the crash here.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Serious Crash Analysis Response Team, the prosecutor’s office, and the Tinton Falls Police Department determined McClave was driving recklessly while under the influence of alcohol and THC at the time of the collision.

Prosecutors also said McClave was on his way to work when the crash occurred.

“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,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said in a statement. “Such behavior cannot be accepted or tolerated.”

The case was moved to Ocean County in 2024 to avoid a potential conflict of interest within the Monmouth County court system, according to prosecutors.