DWI Driver Jailed For Crash That Killed Sussex Co. High School Student

WANTAGE, NJ — A Wantage man has been sentenced to six months in jail after admitting to driving drunk before a fatal crash that claimed the life of a high school student.

Jonathan Fett, 18, was set to graduate from Sussex County Technical School less than a week after the crash on June 13, 2021. Officials said 45-year-old Brian Weiss was northbound on County Route 519 early that morning, when he struck Fett's driver side door at the intersection of County Route 650.

Fett was also a Wantage resident and planned to enlist in the Marine Corps, according to his obituary. He was survived by his parents, his four younger siblings, and his grandparents.

Officials later charged Weiss with third-degree strict liability vehicular homicide, which he plead guilty to, along with a second-offense DWI charge.

Prosecutors said Weiss' blood alcohol content was .14 and he was driving 17 miles per hour over the posted speed limit just seconds before impact, the New Jersey Herald reported. The official investigation also determined that Fett contributed to the crash when he failed to stop at a stop sign, according to the Herald.

Weiss was sentenced to 180 days in jail and a period of probation, according to the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office.