Man Indicted In Crash That Killed East Brunswick Native: Prosecutor

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — A driver has been indicted on manslaughter charges in connection with a Jersey City Heights car crash last fall that took the life of a former East Brunswick resident and two other people.

The Hudson County Grand Jury returned an indictment on Jan. 11 against Ziyang Wang, 23, the office of the Hudson County Prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutors have said that according to data from Wang's vehicle, he had been traveling in excess of 100 m.p.h. when the crash occurred.

The indictment charges Wang, of Jersey City, with three counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, three counts of reckless manslaughter, three counts of death by auto, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of assault by auto.

Prosecutors said that on Oct. 16, 2023, at approximately 12:45 a.m., the Jersey City Police Department was notified of a two-car collision on Paterson Plank Road, south of Congress Street. The area is at the top of the Palisades Hills overlooking Hoboken.

Officers found a BMW X5 M50i that appeared to have crashed head-on with a Kia Amanti.
The driver of the Kia — identified as Dylan Weidenfeld, 26, of Jersey City, a former East Brunswick resident and aspiring thespian — was pronounced dead at the scene. (READ MORE: Young Actor From East Brunswick Died In Crash)

The BMW was occupied by a total of five individuals, including the other two who passed away. Wang was identified as the driver.

While the two other fatalities have not been publicly identified by officials, their names appear in the indictment, released on Friday, as Liang Chen-Jiang and Huimin Zhang.

Zhang, a female backseat passenger in the BMW, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chen-Jiang, a male backseat passenger, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. A fundraiser set up by a Jersey City resident identifies him as an NYU student.

A third backseat passenger, a 19-year-old woman, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center with critical injuries, prosecutors said.

A front-seat female passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries.