NJ Police sergeant Charged in Drunken Wrong-way Highway

A New Jersey police sergeant was charged with vehicular homicide after allegedly killing a man in a drunken wrong-way wreck earlier this month.

Keith M. Gunther, 42, of Wanaque, was allegedly driving south in the northbound lanes of Route 23 — a major artery cutting through North Jersey — at about 11 p.m. Oct. 15 when his pickup slammed head-on into a sedan driving up the highway, according to NJ.com.

The car’s passenger, Hamid Shabuddin, 55, of Paterson, died at the scene, according to Riverdale police.

The driver was brought to a local hospital — as Gunther, a sergeant in the East Hanover Police Department, was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide, assault by auto and driving while intoxicated, the outlet said.

Gunther, a 17-year veteran of the force, was ordered to give up his driver’s license and passport and was later released with pretrial monitoring.

His attorney, Robert Scrivo, told NJ.com on Tuesday that his client was a “man of great service” because he’d been deployed overseas during his time in the National Guard.

But he would not comment on the charges.

Shabuddin was the married father of a teenage daughter who’d recently come to the United States from South Africa, NJ.com said.