Crime & Safety

Driver in Fatal Throckmorton Street Accident Indicted

Shayna Zalcberg faces vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges stemming from crash that killed Feliciano Colon.

A Rhode Island woman who was the driver in a Freehold Township accident that killed one of her passengers and severely injured another has been indicted on vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges.

A Monmouth County grand jury handed up the four-count indictment against Shayna Zalcberg, 28, on Wednesday, March 14, according to a press release issued by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on July 27, 2011, Zalcberg was driving a Honda Accord carrying Jose Irizarry and Feliciano Colon westbound on Throckmorton Street when she lost control of the vehicle and traveled into the oncoming lane of traffic, according to prosecutors. The Accord struck an oncoming Honda Pilot driven by Donald Farrell, 41, of Englishtown.

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Colon, a 36-year-old Freehold resident, was pronounced dead at Jersey Shore University Medical Center that evening as a result of the injuries he sustained in the crash, according to the release. Irizarry, 35, of Freehold, suffered numerous fractures, as well as punctures and lacerations to his lung, kidney, spleen and liver. Farrell’s leg was broken in the crash.

The indictment charges Zalcberg with one count of vehicular homicide, which carries a five- to 10-year prison sentence; two counts of third-degree vehicular assault, each of which carries a three- to five-year prison sentence; and one count of fourth-degree vehicular assault, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 18 months in prison, according to the press release.

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Prosecutors said an investigation revealed Zalcberg had been drinking before the accident, and she had been previously and other related motor vehicle offenses.

Zalcberg is free on $150,000 bail, according to the press release. She will be arraigned before Judge Lisa P. Thornton at a date to be determined later.

Assistant Prosecutor Noah Heck will handle the case for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Attorney James Fagan is representing Zalcberg.


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