Fugitive NJ truck driver arrested after Route 1 crash killed 3

⬜ NJ driver arrested for deadly crash

⬜ Van driver and 2 passengers died in fiery wreck

⬜ Fugitive caught out-of-state

A New Jersey truck driver was captured in Georgia on charges of a horrific wreck that killed three people in a van along Route 1 in Middlesex County.

The April 12 crash claimed the lives of 24-year-old van driver Charisse Nelson-Bailey and her two passengers, 28-year-old Daniel Vida and 25-year-old Maria Passalaris.

Investigators found that 43-year-old tractor-trailer driver Joseph Vega, of Bridgeton, had failed to stop for a red light at the intersection with Ridge Road in South Brunswick.

His load included a 50,000-pound slab of concrete, which careened into the passenger van of the victims.

In May, three counts each of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and second-degree vehicular homicide were filed against Vega.

On Wednesday, Vega was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force in Georgia.

He was being held there, pending extradition to New Jersey.

Around 9:30 a.m. the day of the crash, Vega was transporting his oversized concrete load when the truck blew through a red light.

Both the truck and the passenger van caught fire, following the impact.

Nelson-Bailey, of Princeton Junction, had been transporting Vida and Passalaris to an adult day program.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Officer Brian Sites of the South Brunswick Police Department at 732-329-4646 or Sgt. Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-4328.

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