Man sentenced in crash that killed NJ officer

Associated Press

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — A New Jersey man is headed to state prison for causing a fiery alcohol-related crash that killed an off-duty police officer who was headed home after working a drunken-driving detail.

Ocean County prosecutors say 34-year-old Manchester resident Erick Uzcategui received an eight-year sentence Wednesday. He was convicted in July on a vehicular homicide charge stemming from the crash, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day in 2010.

Prosecutors have said Uzcategui's sport utility vehicle crashed into the back of a Jeep driven by 32-year-old Ocean Gate Officer Jason Marles. The crash occurred on a stretch of the Garden State Parkway in Toms River.

The officer's vehicle crashed through a guardrail, overturned and burst into flames.

Marles was a nine-year veteran of the police force and the father of two young children.

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