Brooklyn Teen Faces Vehicular Homicide Charge in NJ Crash That Kills Passenger

By Carly Kilroy 

An 18-year-old from Bed-Stuy faces multiple charges after he crashed his car, killing the passenger, in attempts to flee from police in New Jersey Wednesday night, authorities said.

Shern Noel, of Pulaski Street, is charged with death by vehicular homicide, knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death, eluding, aggravated assault and endangering an injured victim.

The victim has not yet been identified.

It was around 8:57 p.m. when a Bernards Township patrol officer noticed a 2013 Honda Accord with tinted windows parked in a Martinsville Road gas station with an expired New York registration, police said. 

The officer followed the driver, Noel, as he exited the parking lot.

“Once on Valley Road, the officer activated his emergency lights in an attempt to effectuate a motor vehicle stop of the vehicle and it’s two occupants,” according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. “As the patrol unit approached the vehicle defendant Noel accelerated and fled the area.”

Additional patrol units were dispatched to canvas the area for the vehicle, which was found moment later parked in a cul-de-sac with the lights off.

Once spotted, Noel fled at a high speed out of the cul-de-sac and his vehicle was found minutes later, crashed, on Stonehouse Road near Columbia Road, police said.

The front seat passenger was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead on the scene.

Noel fled the scene, police said, before being found in a wooded area. He was transported to an area hospital for a wrist injury. His bail is set at $200,000 cash only.