Truck Driver Charged with Route 18 Fatality

A Pennsylvania truck driver has been charged with causing a crash that killed a Monmouth County man and injured the victim’s wife and daughter on the Old Bridge section of Route 18.

According to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, Brad L. Phillips, 24, of Gap, Pa., was arrested at his home on May 11, and was charged with aggravated manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, methamphetamine.

Phillips was charged after an investigation by Officer John Bulin of the Old Bridge Police Department and Investigator Gregory Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office showed that Phillips was sleep-deprived and had been driving under the influence of methamphetamines when his tractor-trailer crashed into a sport utility vehicle in Old Bridge on April 25.

The investigation also showed that Phillips, who was heading north on Route 18, ran a red light at the Ferry Road intersection at 7:27 a.m. and struck the 2001 GMC Yukon that was being driven by Hermino Balagtas, 58, of Manalapan.

His wife, Leonora Balagtas, 53, and their 11-year-old daughter were injured in the crash.

The family was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where Mr. Balagtas was pronounced dead shortly after the crash. His wife and daughter were treated for their injuries and released.

Bail has been set at $450,000 for Phillips who is being held in Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition to New Jersey.

—Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.