Beloved Dad From Freehold Dies In Car Crash; Community Responds

FREEHOLD, NJ — The community's heart is pouring out for Arturo Tlapa Luna, the husband and father who died on Wednesday when, driving home with his family, his car was struck by a speeding stolen car on Route 9 in Old Bridge.

Luna, 33, was driving with his wife Maria, his two children, and his father early Wednesday morning on Route 9 south. He died from his injuries and his family is hospitalized, being treated for multiple injuries, said friend and employer Antonio Romeo DiSantillo on a fundraising site.

DiSantillo has started a GoFundMe site for the family, and you can click on the highlighted area to donate.

"Arturo was a kind, generous, and loyal husband, father, brother, son, coworker, and friend. He was so loved and deeply respected by his community. We have lost an amazing human being.

"We want to help raise money for Arturo’s family to help deal with medical expenses and any other financial hardships they may face during this terrible time in their lives," DiSantillo said on the site.

He said he hired Luna as a teenager - and he feels like he lost family.

"He was hardworking, he always did the right thing," DiSantillo said.

He said he has been in touch with Maria, Luna's wife, and the family members are stable but "in bad shape." His father needed two surgeries, DiSantillo said.

Luna worked at the Pizza & Pasta Factory in Marlboro, and his fellow employees and customers are grief-stricken, based on their many responses on the restaurant's Facebook page.

"It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have to share that we have lost a beloved part of the Pizza and Pasta Factory family. Words can’t begin to describe how much we will miss you," his co-workers said on the site.

Customers all expressed shock and sadness, and recounted many fond memories of how kind Luna was to them when they called up to order - even on the busiest of nights.

One customer even wanted to arrange to cover the restaurant's shifts so the employees could have time to grieve, she said.

DiSantillo owns several restaurants and he said that his own family and the community will do all they can to help Luna's wife and two girls.

Luna and his family were innocent victims in a tragedy that began to unfold late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

A police pursuit of the stolen car that struck Luna's was in progress when the fatal collision on Route 9 in Old Bridge took place, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

A 19-year-old Somerset teen has been charged with the fatal crash. Police say he and another teen boy, 17, were driving a car stolen out of New Brunswick, and they sped away from a police officer trying to pull them over. They crashed into a third vehicle - Luna's - killing Luna and injuring members of his family.

At 2:14 a.m. Wednesday, Old Bridge Police were called to a crash site near the intersection of Spring Valley Road and Route 9 south. Luna was pronounced dead at the scene. Other family members who were in the car were also injured and taken to a hospital.

The car that caused the crash had been reported stolen in New Brunswick on Oct. 23, said Ciccone.

The two teen boys drove the stolen car to Marlboro late Tuesday night and they were trying to steal or break into cars in Marlboro, the prosecutor said.

Marlboro residents called 911; police responded and a Marlboro police officer initiated a car chase.

"A Marlboro police officer attempted to stop the vehicle in connection with an attempted car theft from a house in Marlboro," said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, whose office is also investigating the fatal crash.

Samuel Villar, 19, of Somerset, was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter for Luna's death, four counts of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of second-degree eluding, one count of second-degree employing a juvenile and one count of third-degree theft.

A 17-year-old juvenile teen boy who was in the stolen car with him has been taken into custody and charged with an act of juvenile delinquency for offenses which if committed by an adult would constitute as one count of third-degree burglary, one count of fourth-degree joyriding, and one count of third-degree conspiracy.

In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy made it illegal for New Jersey police officers to chase stolen cars or cars used in the commission of crimes, specifically because he — and others — said it was too dangerous to have high-speed chases on state roads. It was part of an overhaul led by Murphy to reduce police use of force in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in police custody.

Then, due to the surge in car thefts this year, in late April Murphy-appointee Attorney General Platkin changed the policy and allowed New Jersey police officers to initiate high-speed car chases.

At the time, Platkin said he was re-allowing police chases specifically because of the high amount of car thefts happening in suburban towns right now: Car theft is up 66 percent this year in Monmouth County. Statewide, luxury car thefts skyrocketed 127 percent from last January to the end of January 2022, according to State Police data.

Wealthy suburban communities like Marlboro, Holmdel, Middletown and others have been experiencing many car thefts this year. In many cases, the stolen cars speed away onto the Garden State Parkway. In most cases, the pursuits have not been continued.

Patch Local Editor Carly Baldwin contributed reporting to this story.