FREEHOLD — A Long Branch man has been charged with second-degree vehicular homicide in a May crash on the Garden State Parkway that killed a passenger in his pickup truck, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and New Jersey State Police said Thursday.

Kelvin Gomez-Fuentes, 24, had already been charged with a series of traffic offenses, including driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving, an unsafe lane change and possession of an unsealed container of cannabis, according to prosecutors.

State troopers were called shortly before 4 a.m. May 17 to the southbound express lanes of the Parkway near milepost 108, where they found a Toyota Tacoma driven by Gomez-Fuentes had crashed, authorities said.

A passenger, Katherine Andrade-Portillo, 27, of Long Branch, died at the scene, according to the prosecutor's office.

Investigators determined that Gomez-Fuentes was under the influence of intoxicating substances when the truck left the road, hit several objects, overturned and burst into flames, prosecutors said.

Gomez-Fuentes surrendered at the State Police barracks in Holmdel and was taken to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution to await a court appearance in Superior Court, according to the release.

The charges are allegations, and Gomez-Fuentes is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

This brief was drafted by AI from a public agency’s press release and published by The New Jersey Tide. Why we use AI for stories like this one.