COURT HOUSE — Additional charges have been filed against Anthony Friel, 36, of Villas as a result of the March 29 motor vehicle crash on Route 47 at Fifth Street in Rio Grande.
In a joint release, Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor and Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner announced that the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and Fatal Crash Investigation Unit, the Middle Township Police Department Patrol and Detective Division along with the Wildwood Police Department investigated this crash in which Friel’s 2003 Nissan Altima rear ended a commercial vehicle which caused Friel’s vehicle to crash into a New Jersey Transit bus stop.
The bus stop was occupied by a number of pedestrians when the crash happened. One of those pedestrians injured was a 37-year-old local man who remains hospitalized as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash.
Officials stated that the investigation revealed that Friel was traveling at a high rate of speed westbound from Wildwood into Middle Township on Rio Grande Boulevard in an attempt to elude police officers when the crash occurred.
The investigation also revealed that Friel was allegedly under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance at the time.
Additional charges of aggravated assault by auto, a second degree crime and leaving the scene of an motor vehicle accident, a crime of the third degree were served on Friel, who remains incarcerated at the Cape May County Correctional Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Taylor advises that those convicted of second degree crimes are subject to a sentence of five to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison and those convicted of third degree crimes are subject to a sentence of three to five years in prison.
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