Metro

Road-rage crash in NJ leaves 1 dead

A road-rage beef turned deadly in New Jersey Sunday, when two drivers that had been chasing each other on the Garden State Parkway crashed and killed one of their passengers, police said.

Both drivers, Thomas Vanderweit, 27, of Saddle Brook, NJ, and John Emili, 20, of New City, NY, were charged with vehicular homicide in the 11 a.m. accident, in which Emili’s passenger was thrown from the car and later died at Hackensack Medical Center, state police Trooper Christopher Kay said.

Kay added the woman was not wearing a seat belt.

It isn’t clear what the fight between the two drivers was about. The crash occurred when Emili, driving a Honda Pilot, roared onto an exit ramp to try and pass Vanderweit’s Chevy Trailblazer in Washington Township, Kay said.

He struck a metal guardrail overturned, and then hit Vanderweit’s car, Kay said. No other injuries were reported.

Kay didn’t know how fast both vehicles were traveling at the time of the crash, but he said both cars were driving erratically, making frequent lane changes, and tailgating each other as they raced north on the Parkway.

“Today’s tragic events illustrate how deadly aggressive driving can be,” Kay said.