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| KEVIN ROPER |
The Walmart driver whose truck collided with a van carrying the comedian Tracy Morgan had not slept for more than 24 hours before the crash, New Jersey prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors in Middlesex County charged the truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Ga., with one count of death by auto and several counts of assault by auto in connection with the pileup on Saturday that critically injured Mr. Morgan and killed another comedian, James McNair, known as Jimmy Mack, who was also riding in the luxury van.
In a criminal complaint released on Monday, prosecutors said that at the time of the crash Mr. Roper had been operating the tractor-trailer “without having slept for a period in excess of 24 hours resulting in a motor vehicle accident.”
Under New Jersey law, a driver can be convicted of vehicular homicide if it is shown that he had been without sleep for that long when the accident occurred.
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| JIMMY MACK & TRACY MORGAN |
A preliminary police investigation found that Mr. Roper had failed to perceive slow-moving traffic ahead of him, and, at the last minute, swerved in an attempt to avoid a collision. The complaint did not explain how New Jersey State Police determined that Mr. Roper had been sleep deprived.
Tracy Morgan, 45, a former cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” sustained serious injuries, including a broken leg, a broken femur, a broken nose and several broken ribs, his publicist said Sunday.
The crash occurred as Mr. Morgan, 45, a former cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” was traveling to New York from a comedy show in Delaware. Around 1 a.m., a Walmart tractor-trailer collided with the back of the van, a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike, setting off a chain reaction that involved four other vehicles.
Mr. Morgan sustained serious injuries, including a broken leg, a broken femur, a broken nose and several broken ribs, his publicist said Sunday. After the crash, he and his assistant, Jeff Millea, 36, were airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. Another comedian, Ardie Fuqua, 43, was also injured.
The truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, was charged with one count of death by auto and several counts of assault by auto in connection with the accident on Saturday. Credit New Jersey State Police, via Associated Press The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that it had sent a team of investigators to New Jersey to focus on the larger issue of the safety of commercial truck operators.
Mr. Roper’s next appearance in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey is scheduled for Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office said. He was released on Saturday after posting $50,000 bail.
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