NJ driver wanted for deadly summer crash arrested in PA

🔶NJ man killed in crash last summer

🔶One driver accused of being high

🔶NJ fugitive arrested in PA

A year after a deadly three-vehicle crash in Monmouth County, a fugitive from Howell has been arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, law enforcement confirmed on Tuesday.

Thomas A. Redding has been charged with second-degree death by auto and third-degree possession of cocaine, in connection with the death of 55-year-old Leonard Akers of Wall Township.

Redding also faced a disorderly persons offense of possession of drug paraphernalia.

The 45-year-old driver was additionally ticketed for speeding, reckless driving, careless driving likely to endanger persons or property, following too closely, operation of a motor vehicle while in possession of narcotics, and driving while intoxicated.

Prosecutors said Redding was under the influence at the time of the crash, early on a Saturday morning last summer.

Deadly 3-vehicle crash in Wall

On July 29, 2023 around 5 a.m., Wall Township police responded to Old Mill Road and State Route 138.

Two vehicles, a 2016 Ford Fusion driven by Akers and a 2016 Dodge Ram truck driven by a 62-year-old Howell Township man had both been stopped at a red light, when Redding’s 2023 Toyota 4Runner crashed directly into the back of the Ford.

The impact pushed the small car into the back of the pickup.

Akers was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

(Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office)

After an investigation involving the Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team, the Prosecutor’s Office, Wall Township police and State Police, Redding was criminally charged earlier this month.

Members of the Prosecutor’s Office, Wall Township police and the U.S. Marshals Service found and arrested him in Philadelphia early Monday.

Redding was in custody in PA on Tuesday, pending extradition to New Jersey for future proceedings in Monmouth County Superior Court.

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