Bronx Man Sentenced to 24 Years for Fatal East Brunswick Hit and Run

A Bronx, N.Y. man who pleaded guilty to killing two women in a motor vehicle crash on Ryders Lane while attempting to flee from police was sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence Thursday, according to nj.com.

Emmanuel Garcia, 30, must serve at least 20 years and four months of a 24 year bid, according to the report, after he was sentenced yesterday by Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves in New Brunswick.

Garcia pleaded guilty on July 11 to two counts of aggravated manslaughter, as well as eluding police and leaving the scene of an accident after he struck a vehicle driven by Dolores Krowicki, 83, of Spotswood, and her daughter, Karen Larue, 60. 

Garcia was driving with a suspended license on Route 18 when he spotted a police car behind him, and tried to flee, police said. 

He led officers on a chase, ultimately running a red light and striking Larue’s car as it was making a left turn from Winston Road onto Ryder's Lane. 

Following the crash, Garcia ran from the scene, but was apprehended outside an office building on Summerhill Road shortly before 3:42 p.m., according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

A preliminary investigation by prosecutor’s office and East Brunswick Police showed that Garcia was stopped at a red traffic light on Route 18 northbound at Racetrack Road shortly before 3 p.m. when he made a sudden, illegal U-turn onto the southbound side of Route 18.

An East Brunswick police car, which also had stopped for the red light, pursued Garcia, who continued to Rues Lane, driving in excess of the posted 40-mile-per-hour speed limit, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Police followed, but for safety reasons, considered the defendant’s speed and location, and terminated the pursuit on Rues Lane.

The investigation further showed that Garcia continued driving at speeds greater than the posted limit on Ryders Lane and used the shoulder of the road to pass several vehicles before he disregarded a red light at the Winton Road intersection and broadsided Krowicki’s vehicle, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

The victim’s vehicle, a 1995 Ford Taurus, was making a left turn from Winton Road onto Ryders Lane when it was hit. The Taurus spun into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle, which had stopped for the red light on Ryders Lane. That vehicle rolled into the vehicle behind it, but no one in those two vehicles was injured.