Crime, Regional Interest

Prosecutor: Woman Gets 5 Years for Fatal 2016 Texting-While-Driving Pedestrian Collision

A Monmouth County judge sentenced a 51-year-old Keansburg woman to five years in prison in connection with the 2016 precedent-setting texting-while-driving collision in Hazlet that took the life of a 39-year-old woman, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Friday.

Mansonet’ s sentence is also subject to the provisions of the No Early Release Act (NERA), requiring her to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole. She will also be on parole for a period of three years once released.

The woman, Alexandra Mansonet, was released pending an appeal of Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman’s Friday ruling along with the sentencing to not grant bail pending her case appeal. If the Appellate Division does not reverse the judge’s ruling, she must turn herself in on Tuesday, Aug. 25, by 3 p.m. to begin serving her sentence.

The jury returned a guilty verdict for second-degree vehicular homicide on Nov. 22, 2019 following a three-week trial.

Evidence presented at the trial revealed that Mansonet was texting while driving at the time of the fatal crash.

The case background …

The charges stem from an 8:20 a.m. collision at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Sixth Street on Sept. 28, 2016. The initial collision involved a 2000 Mercedes Benz, driven by Mansonet, and a 2011 Toyota Corolla, driven by Robert Matich, of Keansburg.  Matich’s son was a passenger in the vehicle. 

Matich’s vehicle was proceeding south on Laurel Avenue approaching the intersection with Sixth Street when he observed pedestrians looking to cross Laurel Avenue at the marked crosswalk.  In compliance with motor vehicle law that requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, Matich slowed his vehicle a significant distance prior to the intersection to allow the pedestrians to cross. 

As Matich brought his vehicle to a controlled stop, Mansonet’s vehicle collided with the rear of his vehicle, which was propelled forward, striking the victim, Yuwen Wang, on Laurel Avenue in Hazlet. Wang was transported by helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center’s Trauma Unit in New Brunswick, where she died on Oct. 3, 2016.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART) and Hazlet Township Police Department determined Mansonet was using her cellular telephone while driving and made no observations of Matich’s vehicle. Accordingly, Mansonet never activated her brakes and collided with the vehicle, causing it to cast forward and strike the victim.

After Mansonet was sentenced, Raymond M. Brown, Esq., one of the attorneys handling her appeal, asked the Court to grant Mansonet’s release on bail while her appeal is pending, which was opposed by the state. Judge Bauman denied the motion. Brown then asked Judge Bauman to stay his order pending an emergent appeal of the denial of bail pending appeal. The stay was granted, allowing Mansonet to file and emergent appeal to the Appellate Division on the issue.

Accordingly, Judge Bauman released Mansonet, but ordered that she turn herself in on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020 by 3 p.m. to begin serving her sentence unless the Appellate Division reverses his ruling and grants bail pending appeal.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office

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