Jersey City man who killed two in fiery crash faces 30 years in prison

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
on February 11, 2014 at 5:43 PM

A Jersey City man on PCP who slammed his speeding SUV into a taxi, triggering a fiery crash that claimed two lives has pleaded guilty and will face 30 years in prison when sentenced, according to court officials.

At 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2012, Herman Chandler Jr., 36, of Wegman Parkway, was driving east on Grand Street at least twice the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit when his SUV slammed into the cab, which was stopped near Marin Boulevard, officials said.

The cab exploded into flames and was propelled hundreds of feet before coming to rest on the sidewalk, cops said. The SUV then veered onto the sidewalk, mowing down Jairo E. Camelo, 41, of Marin Boulevard, who was walking on Grand Street. Camelo was returning home from work and had just left the Grove Street PATH Station. He was pronounced dead at 10:39 p.m.

James Fuller, 44, of Claremont Avenue, was trapped in the back seat of the burning taxi and later died at the Jersey City Medical Center, officials said. He had suffered burns over his entire body, a police report said.

People at the scene rushed to Fuller's aid, but their efforts were to no avail.

Employees at the Tacqueria Downtown restaurant, just yards from the crash, also tried to extricate Fuller and used all five of the restaurant's fire extinguishers. The Jersey Journal obtained video showing numerous people dangerously close to the fully engulfed cab as they tried to rescue Fuller.

Although Chandler fled, he left his wallet and identification behind, police said. When found nearby, his eyes were glassy, he slurred his words and appeared confused. He could not give any information on the crash, a report said. He was high on PCP, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

Chandler pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated manslaughter on Dec. 16 and will face 15 years in prison on each count when sentenced by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Lisa Rose on March 6 in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino said.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... s_will_face_30_years.html

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Amen to this. I see it almost every day.

Sometimes summary execution is acceptable in my book.

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There are plenty of police on Grand Street, they're all just illegally parked at the Brownstone.

A Jersey City man on PCP who slammed his speeding SUV into a taxi, triggering a fiery crash that claimed two lives has pleaded guilty and will face 30 years in prison when sentenced, according to court officials.

At 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2012, Herman Chandler Jr., 36, of Wegman Parkway, was driving east on Grand Street at least twice the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit when his SUV slammed into the cab, which was stopped near Marin Boulevard, officials said.

The cab exploded into flames and was propelled hundreds of feet before coming to rest on the sidewalk, cops said. The SUV then veered onto the sidewalk, mowing down Jairo E. Camelo, 41, of Marin Boulevard, who was walking on Grand Street. Camelo was returning home from work and had just left the Grove Street PATH Station. He was pronounced dead at 10:39 p.m.

James Fuller, 44, of Claremont Avenue, was trapped in the back seat of the burning taxi and later died at the Jersey City Medical Center, officials said. He had suffered burns over his entire body, a police report said.

People at the scene rushed to Fuller's aid, but their efforts were to no avail.

Employees at the Tacqueria Downtown restaurant, just yards from the crash, also tried to extricate Fuller and used all five of the restaurant's fire extinguishers. The Jersey Journal obtained video showing numerous people dangerously close to the fully engulfed cab as they tried to rescue Fuller.

Although Chandler fled, he left his wallet and identification behind, police said. When found nearby, his eyes were glassy, he slurred his words and appeared confused. He could not give any information on the crash, a report said. He was high on PCP, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

Chandler pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated manslaughter on Dec. 16 and will face 15 years in prison on each count when sentenced by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Lisa Rose on March 6 in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino said.

Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

if it makes you feel any better I have had morons double yellow pass me while driving my car east bound. Granted I was driving the speed limit so should have expected such a thing...

Indeed, the Grand Street Expressway. Several times over the past two weeks I have been honked at, and essentially shoved aside, by drivers hurrying East while I (legally) ride my bike on the street. What is there to do? If I am feeling adventurous, I will toss a few choice words their way and give them the stink eye, but there is little else I can do: in a head to head battle, the car will win EVERY DAY. Police presence is non existent and drivers feel pretty entitled to speed down the road and to drive aggressively while doing so.

and still no changes to "calm" traffic on the Grand St Expressway....

Throw the book at him.

Felon charged in fiery Jersey City crash that killed 2 pleads not guilty

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 3:26 PM
Updated: Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 3:43 PM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

A Jersey City felon pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he slammed his SUV into a taxi while on drugs and triggering a fiery crash that claimed two lives in January.

After the 9:40 p.m. crash on Jan. 18 on Grand Street, Herman Chandler Jr., 35, of Wegman Parkway, was charged with two counts of death by auto, as well as leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving while intoxicated by a narcotic, driving with a suspended license and reckless driving.

But when the case was presented to the grand jury, he was indicted on charges that include two counts of aggravated manslaughter, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael D'Andrea said.

Full JJ piece....(with pictures)

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... html#incart_river_default

**

(I guess WM will move this to the old thread, I saw two of them, I didn't pick)

Hasn't there been conversations recently about modifying the end of the Turnpike extension so there is a more direct artery to the waterfront area and to try to take some of the traffic out of the downtown area?

At least Seattle HAS bike lanes ... are there any at all in JC?

Seriously, in a time when cities all over the US are discouraging driving and increasing pedestrian friendliness, JC is doing the opposite by turning streets through dense residential areas into highways. JC should be discouraging suburban office commuters from driving to their waterfront jobs. Jersey City is extremely well connected with public transportation. Keep Columbus and Grand as narrow and slow moving as possible, which would make residents happy, the environment happy (when more workers use public transportation), and would decrease the sprawling surface parking lots that can be seen all over downtown JC.

We need new leadership in this town, who have a vision and can be progressive thinkers. Healy and his crooked cronies will never, ever, ever get it.

I ride a bicycle for fun and fitness. Incidentally, the vast majority of close-calls with cars have been at the Grove-Grand intersection. I now ride out of my way to avoid it. I might add that I follow traffic laws while cycling.

Here is a recent Economist article that explains why JC has pedestrian safety issues. There is no attempt to calm traffic, JC is doing the exact opposite of every well run city in the world including NYC.

Bike safety
Calm down
With a very few exceptions, America is no place for cyclists
Sep 3rd 2011 | SEATTLE | from the print edition
..DYING while cycling is three to five times more likely in America than in Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands. To understand why, consider the death of Michael Wang. He was pedalling home from work in Seattle on a sunny weekday afternoon in late July when, witnesses say, a brown SUV made a left turn, crunched into Wang and sped away.

The road where the 44-year-old father of two was hit is the busiest cycling corridor in Seattle, and it has clearly marked bicycle lanes. But the lanes are protected from motor vehicles by a line of white paint?a largely metaphorical barrier that many drivers ignore and police do not vigorously enforce. A few feet from the cycling lane traffic moves at speeds of between 30 miles per hour, the speed limit for arterials in Seattle, and 40 miles per hour, the speed at which many cars actually travel. This kind of speed kills. A pedestrian hit by a car moving at 30mph has a 45% chance of dying; at 40mph, the chance of death is 85%, according to Britain?s Department of Transport.

Had Mr Wang been commuting on a busy bike route in Amsterdam, Copenhagen or Berlin, his unprotected exposure to instruments of death?namely, any vehicle moving at 20mph or more?would be nearly nil. These cities have knitted together networks for everyday travel by bike. To start with, motor vehicles allowed near cyclists are subject to ?traffic calming?. They must slow down to about 19mph, a speed that, in case of collision, kills less than 5%. Police strictly enforce these speed limits with hefty fines. Repeat offenders lose their licences.

Calmer traffic is just the beginning. In much of northern Europe, cyclists commute on lanes that are protected from cars by concrete buffers, rows of trees or parked cars. At busy crossroads, bicycle-activated traffic lights let cyclists cross first. Traffic laws discriminate in favour of people on bikes. A few American cities have taken European-style steps to make streets safer for cycling, most notably Portland, Oregon, which has used most of the above ideas. The result: more bikes and fewer deaths. Nearly 6% of commuters bike to work in Portland, the highest proportion in America. But in five out of the past ten years there have been no cycling deaths there. In the nearby Seattle area, where cycling is popular but traffic calming is not, three cyclists, have been killed in the past few weeks.

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i agree, lets do it!!!

and please join http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jersey- ... 06524533?sk=wall&filter=1
where news about a petition will be posted as soon as possible and email me at jcstreetsafety(@)gmail(dot)com if you want to help more actively!

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And even after they get it wrong they still ingnore what it really means. I heard of someone that wore their brakes out by hitting the gas and brake pedal repeatedly like a pause button. Stop/go/stop/go/stop/go.....

Did anybody go to the Captain's meeting last night? I am interested if this was brought up.

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Not taking that bet. Few here even know what to do at a multiway stop, which is all a blinking red is. I've often thought there should be a different sign for multiways, not just the little added plate. I really hate that they often obscure my seeing the stop for the other drivers with the "do not enter" sign on it's back side.

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As someone who drives Grand Street every day, this does not sound like a solution. On the contrary, it sounds like it would cause way more car accidents. Whether you like it or not, Grand Street is a main road that takes people from the waterfront to the NJ Turnpike. Do you want it to be so congested that people won't be able to get out of our city? I would think there would be even more aggressive driving.

Not sure what the best solution is...someone mentioned speed bumps and I guess I can see something like the rumble strips they put on the turnpike pay stations at key intersections. But still, as dangerous as Grand Street is, none of the things that people have been pointing out caused this lowlife to take drugs and drive under the influence. That and that alone is the reason two innocent hard working men were killed.

So I guess the point we keep coming back to (myself included for my observation of the Grand St. sit-in suggestion) is that until the people change, no amount of planning or enforcement will matter. People who are high/drunk and have no regard for other people's safety are going to do what they're going to do.

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Nobody in New Jersey seems to know that a flashing red light is a stop sign. Those that stop for it get rear-ended by the people behind them. At the very least, flashing red light intersections are a non-stop honk-a-thon for people who live near them.

You don't need a 100% score to pass your written driver's test, and I'd bet good money that that's the question everybody gets wrong.

Good chance that if 50 people in the middle of Grand St. that at least 10 will be run over by some idiot speeding down Grand and not paying attention.

I'd suggest as a start that every intersection on Grand be made into a 4 way stop. A flashing red light at every intersection. If it's 4 lanes at certain intersections (like Jersey), then some lanes should be made into turn only lanes, so that every intersection only ever has one lane going straight. That way, people will be forced stop at every intersection and wouldn't be able to get up to excessively dangerous speeds at any stretch. It would be annoying as hell to drive down, but it could be helpful, and one of the less costly solutions.

Occupy Grand st.

Maybe it's time for a protest by residents? Maybe 50-75 people taking a seat in the middle of Grand Street and blocking traffic will get some attention?

First, let me say to the families of the victims, how awful many of us feel about the accident on Grand Street. It was a terrible thing for many of us to witness that evening. The bravery of the persons that tried to help should be applauded. Unfortunately, the accident was inevitable and only a matter of time. For many residents, school guard officials, policeman, and school children, crossing Grand Street everyday is dangerous. It is common knowledge that Grand Street at; New Brunswick, Jersey Avenue, Barrow Street and Grove Street is a dangerous killer. It was not too long ago that another innocent was killed right in front of the hospital. A hit and run that the mayor made very public on the evening news. The residents along Grand Street have seen many changes to the street. Liberty Harbor residents moved into their homes with the promise of parking along both sides of Grand Street. It was promoted that the effects of parking on both sides of Grand Street was an effective way to slow traffic down. After most of the homes along Grand Street were sold, the street quickly converted to a 4-lane raceway. After the hit and run on Grand Street, just West of Jersey Avenue, the police presence on Grand Street increased for a few short weeks. The police personnel that I spoke to during this period were frustrated that the business people on the waterfront, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, ect. were undeterred by the 25 speed limit, the hit and run accident, and bewildered that the Jersey City police were stopping them. One woman even had to be scolded about her dangerous behavior, and how it jeopardized the lives of the school children present at the time of her many infractions. Speeding along Grand Street, she failed to yield the light, preventing children from entering the intersection. The policeman stated, ?They, (the drivers), don?t even care about the children, their priority is getting down the waterfront to their jobs on time.? So, the first thing to change about Grand Street is the perception that it is an exit to the waterfront. There are people on both sides of Grand Street with families, lives, children, and loved ones. Persons that cross Grand Street in fear of the cars, buses and trucks that speed, fail to yield to the lights and pedestrians.
What is to be done? First, contact the East District. Captain Joseph Connors, East District Commander
Tel. # 201‐547‐5470 Police Officer Dina Reilly, East District Community Relations Officer
Tel. # 201‐547‐4370 E‐mail: policeeast@njjcps.org JCPD Official Website: www.njjcpd.org
Captain Connors has a community meeting ~ East District Commander?s Mtg. meets fourth Tuesday each month, 7:00 p.m., M.S. 4. He is terrific about listening to the neighborhood residents.

Contact the Mayor?s Office. Let him know that this is the second tragic event on Grand Street under his watch and changes must be made to prevent it from happening again.

Contact Steven Fulop, Ward E . We have contacted Steve?s office in the past to request better street lighting at Grand and Grove Street. The street is a dangerous intersection and not well lit. The explanation for not having better lighting at the intersection was given?as a disagreement between what the city and the developer of Liberty Harbor were willing to contribute?. Let?s put aside the concern about money, and demonstrate concern for the health and safety of the residents in our community. The adult voters and parents of children at Gull?s Cove, 225 Grand, Liberty Harbor, and the Boy?s and Girl?s Club would like to see some real changes immediately!

When the developer explained to the residents of Liberty Harbor that he had paid a considerable amount of money to reconfigure Grand Street, allowing parking to return in front of Liberty Harbor, we were relieved to have a buffer between the community and the speeding buses and cars.
Many of the residents in Liberty Harbor have reported to law enforcement and city officials, that bus drivers have been clocked at 40 to 50 miles an hour on Grand Street. Some bus drivers even have been seen texting and talking on their telephones. The police department?s response was for residents to write down the time, day and bus number. Really?
Vehicles often ?jockey? for position on Eastbound Grand Street to jump ahead of other cars vying for one of the 2 lanes continuing to the waterfront. The street narrows dangerously right in front of the Boy?s and Girl?s Club. Car horns are prevalent every morning beginning at 6 AM. Due to the excessive speeding from Jersey Avenue, through the Barrow Street traffic light, drivers are often surprised by the change in the street and screech on their brakes to avoid each other. The homeowner?s association president at Liberty Harbor has complained about the speeding traffic in front of his home in the 300 block of Grand Street. ?Jersey Avenue to Barrow Street has become a Formula 1-Race zone?. The city engineer that designed this area should be applauded for his ability to design something better adapted to Monte Carlo. Vehicular traffic must swerve to miss parked cars and then accelerate to make the green light at Barrow. Often, the green light is a hue of Orange/Red. Pedestrians often must wait several seconds after the light changes to cross safely. Is this the next HOT spot on Grand Street?

To everyone that uses Grand Street. Be careful. Grove Street at Grand Street still is a very dangerous intersection. The lack of proper street lighting in the intersection, the deplorable engineering of the street and intersection, the vehicles that fail to yield to pedestrians, the vehicles that speed through the red traffic light, all lend to a very dangerous and toxic situation. It is time to take action. Liberty Harbor residents plan to petition the Mayor?s Office. If you are interested, we will have the petition at the next meeting with Captain Connors in February. Contact: Police Officer Dina Reilly, East District Community Relations Officer Tel. # 201‐547‐4370 E‐mail: policeeast@njjcps.org for the full details of this meeting time and place.

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Exactly as I predicted in my first post. They do this nonsense everytime.

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In some philosophical sense I agree with the spirit of your post, but alas, the law does not view this as murder.

I read a comment following one of the NJ.com pieces on this story that said something to the effect of:

"Do the math... one lowlife, ex-con, drain on society just took out two productive family men who contribute to society...this is unsustainable."


My paraphrase probably doesn't do the statement justice, but hopefully you get the idea.

Monday 1/23/12

The coppers put up a portable ?

SPEED LIMIT 25

YOUR SPEED **


..display board at the accident site.

Looks like people were going under 20 mph when I passed it. I was doing a hot 16 mph.

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Murder requires malicious intent to kill, sorry.

Actually, one proposed measure would have saved at least one life. If parking was along the street in question, the SUV would have likely crashed into the cars rather than the pedestrian. My wife reminded me of an accident not so long ago on Marin where a speeding car went out of control and wrecked a bunch of vehicles. Marin is abused by speeders as well but at least the parking prevents cars from jumping curbs.

Now admitedly, the primary purpose of parking is not to create a barrier to absorb drunk drivers, and I would not like that to happen to my vehicle. But it would be a hell of a lot better than losing the father of my daughter's trick or treat companion.