NJ driver charged with manslaughter in DWI pile-up crash that killed young Murphy staffer

✅ The crash on Route 1 in Plainsboro happened just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2024

✅ A policy analyst for Gov. Phil Murphy was killed

✅ Two of the people in the crash were charged with DUI

PLAINSBORO — A driver who ran away from a pile-up crash that killed a member of Gov. Phil Murphy's staff is now facing first-degree homicide charges.

The tragic chain-reaction crash that happened not long after midnight on Jan. 1, 2024, also resulted in DWI charges for two other drivers among the six vehicles in the crashes on Route 1 near College Road.

Deadly chain reaction on New Year's

Louisa Bradlow Carman, 25, worked in Gov. Phil Murphy's Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency.

The Princeton resident was driving with a male passenger in a Ford Fusion when it was struck by a  Nissan Altima operated by Cianni Hall, 24, of Delran, who later would be charged with driving while intoxicated and third-degree endangering a person.

Six minutes later, Carman's car was struck by a Chevrolet Impala operated by Adriana Vega, 27, of Trenton.

Carman was later pronounced dead at Capital Health Regional Medical Center. Before she could get there, however, Vega had run away from the scene.

Vega was arrested Thursday on charges of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular homicide, and second-degree leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

The chain reaction crash also involved the car of someone who had stopped to help as well as a Volkswagen Tiguan operated by a 48-year-old male, and a Chevrolet Malibu operated by Kartika Shorter, 44, of Trenton, who was the second driver charged with DWI.

Shorter was also charged with four counts of fourth-degree assault by auto, two counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and third-degree endangering a person.

Prosecutors also charged two others.

Zyira Dixon, 25, of Trenton, was charged with third-degree attempted escape and fourth-degree obstruction. Dixon was a passenger in a 2002 Ford Explorer that was driving close to Antonia Vega

Zaira Glover, a passenger in Vega's Impala, was charged with fourth-degree hindering, third-degree attempted escape and fourth-degree obstruction.

Carman's legacy in New Jersey public policy

Carman started as an intern for Murphy in the fall of 2021 after graduating from Swarthmore College and was hired full-time within four months after making an impression.

Murphy signed the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act in her memory in 2024. The legislation protects people from medical debt and predatory medical debt collectors.

“The Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act is a monumental step toward building a health care system that is more affordable and more accessible for families all across New Jersey," Murphy said in a written statement. "And it will always stand as a testament to the indispensable role Louisa played in transforming our health care system for the better, so we can protect all of our neighbors from being forced to choose between seeking potentially life-saving care or falling into a medical debt trap."

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