Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Willingboro Township Director of Public Safety Gregory Rucker announced today that a Delanco man has been charged with two counts of homicide for causing the deaths of a married couple during a collision in January in the jug handle at Route 130 northbound and Bridgeboro Road in Willingboro Township.
Authorities charged Amish Patel, 29, of Delanco, with two counts of Aggravated Manslaughter for the deaths of Robert Stephens, 52, and his wife Janet, 50, of Burlington Township, on Jan. 13th.
The homicide charges are based on the results of toxicology tests conducted on blood drawn from Patel following the collision. Under the Rules of Professional Conduct governing the release of information, the results of those tests cannot be discussed outside of the courtroom. Patel, who was treated and released following the collision, also faces several traffic summonses in municipal court, including tickets for Driving While Intoxicated and Speeding.
According to officials, Patel, who was taken into custody this afternoon at the Prosecutor’s Office, will be scheduled for a first appearance in Superior Court in Mount Holly.
The case will then be prepared for presentation to a Burlington County Grand Jury for possible indictment.
The investigation revealed that the Stephens’s minivan was stopped in the jug handle waiting to cross Route 130 onto Bridgeboro Road when Patel, who was traveling northbound on Route 130, lost control of his BMW 440, entered the jug handle and crashed into the minivan at approximately 4:30 p.m.
The force of the impact propelled the minivan over the guardrail and down an embankment, where it submerged into a body of water that is part of Olympia Lakes. Efforts to resuscitate the couple after they were pulled from the water were unsuccessful.