Van driver charged in 2013 fatal Mount Olive crash

The operator of a commuter van that crashed and overturned on Route 80 in Mount Olive on Thanksgiving night of 2013 has been charged with driving while intoxicated and causing the death of one passenger and serious injuries to two others.

Jose A. Almanzar, 47, of Scranton, Pa., was lodged Wednesday night in the Morris County jail on $75,000 bail. He was charged by State Trooper Kyle Feigley with one count of vehicular homicide and two counts of assault by auto by operating a vehicle recklessly while under the influence of alcohol or drugs on Nov. 28, 2013, according to criminal complaints.

Almanzar, the owner of Jose Express of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., is accused of causing the death of female passenger Shaquelia Martin, 22, of Edwardsville, Pa., who was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the van. Almanzar allegedly also caused injury to male passengers Menachem Zirkind, 28, of Crown Heights, N.Y., and Joe Crawford, 53, of New York.

The van was carrying 11 passengers and the deceased and injured males were the only occupants who were not wearing seat belts, State Police said at the time.

Zirkind was taken after the crash to St. Clare's Hospital in Dover, where he initially was in critical but stable condition. Crawford was in stable condition after the crash, with head and neck injuries. Troopers at the scene had attempted to revive Shaquelia Martin with CPR and a portable defibrillator before paramedics arrived but she was pronounced dead at St. Clare’s.

Almanzar, the driver, was cooperative at the scene and gave authorities permission to take a blood sample. The criminal complaint filed in Superior Court, Morristown, on Thursday charges that Almanzar was intoxicated or impaired while operating the van. The complaint does not specify the extent of his alleged impairment.

Almanzar had told police he was driving eastbound on Route 80 around 9 p.m. when a "U-Haul-type truck" cut him off, forcing him into the median, where the vehicle, a 2006 Ford E350 commuter van, overturned and struck a guardrail near the Route 206 exit.

Almanzar also told police the van was on its way from the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area of Pennsylvania to New York. State Police had said that several passengers listed Crown Heights and Jersey City as their place of residence, while others were from Pennsylvania.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com.